Low-energy electron diffraction, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and photo-emission were used to decipher the detailed structural arrangement and chemical composition of the surface region of a transition metal carbide, VC0.8(110). In agreement with previous scanning tunnelling microscopy studies, It was found that the surface reconstructs with a ridge-and-valley grating structure along the [1¯10] direction resulting from {001} faceting for the (3 x 1) and the (4 x 1) phases. Both superstructures terminate on the vacuum side with a nearly stoïchiometric VC region due to C segregation, in contrast with the conclusions drawn from this previous scanning tunnelling microscopy study. However, the present experiments clearly show that these phases were metastable, and slow cooling results in a (1 x 1) surface, which was highly C depleted, similarly to the (100) face.

Surface Structure and Composition of the Missing-Row Reconstruction of VC0.8(110) - a LEED, GIXRD and Photoemission Study. Y.Gauthier, I.Zasada, M.De Santis, V.Langlais, C.Virojanadara, L.I.Johansson: Surface Science, 2007, 601[16], 3383-94