Doping and oxidation effects under ambient conditions in copper surfaces: a “real-life” CuBe surface

Cu-Based materials are used in a variety of industrial applications from mechanics to electronics; thus, it is important to know the mechanisms occurring at their surfaces under ambient conditions. We investigate the CuBe surface by using a combination of soft X-ray spectroscopies, atomic force microscopy and first-principles calculations. We find that this surface behaves upon oxidation under ambient conditions very similarly to a pure copper surface: the oxidation process under ambient conditions leads to the formation of native Cu2O, while beryllium does not affect the electronic properties of the substrate. We have also investigated the role of mild annealing in ultra-high vacuum: after annealing, the CuBe surface shows the typical features of a metallic copper surface, with segregation of beryllium at the surface and its on-site oxidization. Our work elucidates the mechanisms leading to the real-life properties of this surface, accounting for its high performance in industrial applications.