Studies of oxidation of the Cu(100) surface using low energy positrons

Changes in the surface of an oxidized Cu(100) single crystal resulting from vacuum annealing have been investigated using positron annihilation induced Auger electron spectroscopy (PAES). PAES measurements show a large increase in the intensity of the positron annihilation induced Cu M2,3VV Auger peak as the sample is subjected to a series of isochronal anneals in vacuum up to annealing temperature 300° C. The intensity then decreases monotonically as the annealing temperature is increased to ∼600° C. Experimental PAES results are analyzed by performing calculations of positron surface states and annihilation probabilities of surface‐trapped positrons with relevant core electrons taking into account the charge redistribution at the surface, surface reconstructions, and electron‐positron correlations effects. Possible explanation for the observed behavior of the intensity of positron annihilation induced Cu M2,3VV Auger peak with changes of the annealing temperature is proposed.