Study of Early Stage Interaction of Oxygen with Al; Methods, Challenges and Difficulties

摘要

Aluminum is among the metals with the greatest affinity foroxygen. Aluminum oxidation occurs easily and rapidly; asurface film can be formed in order of milliseconds. Study ofinitial oxidation is very important as it concerns the first stepof a metal’s oxidation and corrosion behavior.Characteristics of the kinetics of early-stage oxidation arebelieved to have an important influence on the later steadystategrowth. Modern sophisticated experimental studiessuch as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy (XPS), low energy electrondiffractions (LEED), combining ellipsometry and augerelectron microscopy have clarified some of the details ofinitial stage of both oxygen chemisorption and oxidationkinetics of Al. However, the experimental data are notconsistent. Furthermore, the dynamics of absorption andoxidation process are much less understood. This paperreviews the methods, techniques and the challenges of Alinitial stage oxidation process measurements and alsointroduces a new method for studying the oxide layerformation using ablation of the surface with an ultra-fastlaser beam and fast imaging techniques.