High Resolution Low Energy Electron Diffraction Study of Flattening on theTiO2(110) Surface

We investigate the thermal annealing of a ${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$ surface on atomic length scales using high resolution low energy electron diffraction (spot profile analysis) to measure the interface width and the lateral correlation length of a surface height function. In particular, we find the correlation length (similar to average terrace size) increases with time during annealing as $t^{1/4}$ at temperatures above 800 K, in agreement with predictions derived for continuous macroscopic surfaces.