Atomic-scale structures on a non-stoichiometric TiO2(110) surface studied by noncontact AFM

Abstract We present atomic-scale structures of reconstructed phases of oxygen-deficient TiO2(110) observed by non-contact atomic force microscopy. This technique provided atomic structure of the surface terminated with added Ti2O3 rows including single oxygen atom vacancies. We successfully observed not only half steps along [112] caused by crystallographic shear planes belonging to {132} family but also novel half steps along [001]. On the basis of the idea that the half step formation has close relations with both the CS formation and diffusion of segregated impurities, we propose a structural model for half steps along [001].