Abstract
The chemical composition of a thin rhodium oxide from the surface through the metal‐oxide interface has been measured by imaging atom‐probe mass spectroscopy. The surface oxide was produced by heating a clean, well‐characterized field‐emitter surface to 600 K in 1 Torr O2 for 15 min. The oxidized sample was subsequently transferred under ultrahigh vacuum to an imaging atom probe for analysis. To avoid problems associated with a nonuniform oxide layer, only a small volume of the oxide layer was mass analyzed. The results indicated that under these conditions 50–60 layers of stoichiometric Rh2O3 are produced with dissolved oxygen (possibly mixed with substoichiometric oxides) extending an additional 5–15 layers into the bulk. A small amount of H2O was detected within the oxide with an enhanced concentration observed at the interface.

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