Structural and electronic properties of V2O3 ultrathin film on Ag(001): LEED and photoemission study

V2O3 ultrathin films were grown on Ag(001) substrate by reactive evaporation of vanadium (V) metal in presence of oxygen and their structural and electronic properties were studied by Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), X-ray Photo Electron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopic (ARPES) techniques, respectively. On top of square symmetry substrate Ag(001), hexagonal surface of V2O3 (0001) is stabilized in the form of two domain structure, rotated by 30°(or 90°)to each other, has been observed by LEED. Rather than epitaxial flat monolayer, formation of well-ordered V2O3 (0001) island has been confirmed from the LEED and the Photoemission Spectroscopic (PES) study. Stoichiometry of the grown film was confirmed by the XPS study. Evolution of valance band electronic structure of V2O3 (0001) surface has been studied as a function of film thickness by ARPES.