Growth and electronic structure of vanadium on α-Al2O3(0001)

The interaction of metallic vanadium with the α-Al2O3(0001) surface was studied in the submonolayer-to-multilayer coverage regime using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). At low coverage the V 2p photoemission spectra reveal a strong interaction of vanadium with alumina, thus indicating the formation of a vanadium oxide. The NEXAFS data, both the line-shape and the position of the vanadium L-edge, are consistent with the formation of V2O3. A comparison of the results of both spectroscopies reveals that vanadium seems to be highly dispersed at low coverage, and final state effects on the core level ionization energies, e.g. cluster size effects, have to be considered. At higher amounts of vanadium deposition a metallic vanadium overlayer forms on top of a vanadia/Al2O3 interface. In an ambient of 5×10−5 Torr oxygen metallic vanadium oxidizes rapidly, even at 300 K, and the formation of V2O3 is observed.