The oxidation of the W(100) surface at elevated temperatures was studied using room temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction. High exposure of the clean surface to O2 at 1500K followed by flash-annealing to 2300K in ultra-high vacuum results in the formation of a novel p(3 x 1) reconstruction, which was imaged by scanning tunnelling microscopy as a missing-row structure on the surface. Upon further annealing in ultra-high vacuum, this surface develops a floreted low-energy electron diffraction pattern characteristic of twinned micro-domains of monoclinic WOx, while maintaining the p(3 x 1) missing-row structure. Atomically resolved scanning tunnelling microscopy images of this surface show a complex domain structure with single and double W<010> rows coexisting on the surface in different domains.

Oxygen-Induced p(3 x 1) Reconstruction of the W(100) Surface. S.Murphy, G.Manai, I.V.Shvets: Surface Science, 2005, 579[1], 65-72