Mid Sweden University

Using an STM in air, we have studied three different electropolished Ti surfaces. One sample was analyzed without further treatment. The second was thermally oxidized in air at 500-degrees-C. The third was exposed to an argon glow discharge and then oxidized in pure oxygen. The samples were characterized by Auger spectroscopy prior to STM measurements. Electropolished and thermally oxidized samples showed a granular structure, with a low corrugation between 2 and 10 nm. At a larger scale, the glow discharge treated sample showed a high corrugation approximately 100 nm.