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The oxidation of chromium at 300 °C was investigated in situ by ToF -SIMS for three different oxygen pressures ( $$P_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }} = 2.0 \times 10^{ - 7}$$ , 6.0 × 10 and 2.0 × 10 mbar). Sequential exposure to the O isotopic tracer was performed to reveal the governing transport mechanism in the oxide film. The evolution of the oxide thickness was monitored. Volatilization of CrO was evidenced. A model was used to describe the kinetics resulting from the measurements. Both the parabolic and volatilization constants showed a dependence on oxygen partial pressure like $$P_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }}^{ - 1/n}$$ , with n = 1.9 ± 0.1, indicating a defect structure mainly consisting of oxygen vacancies. The re-oxidation in O shows a growth of the oxide layer at the metal/oxide interface, demonstrating an oxidation process governed by anionic transport via oxygen vacancies. The diffusion coefficient of oxygen in the oxide was determined by fitting the ToF -SIMS depth profiles. It is 2.0 × 10 cm s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for tuning the nanostructures formed by self-organized growth of oxygen on Cu(110) surface is proposed. It is shown that the range of possible nanostructures, consisting in alternating stripes of bare and oxidized copper, can largely be extended by the co-adsorption of sulfur. The classical Marchenko–Vanderbilt model describing the nanostructuration was generalized in order to take into account the change in the surface properties induced by the presence of sulfur. This modified model enabled us to infer the expressions of the periodicity and width of the self-organized stripes as a function of the sulfur and oxygen coverages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]