Role of oxygen in Cu(1Â 1Â 0) surface restructuring in the vicinity of step edges

- In situ STM is made in the vicinity of surface steps to elucidate the role of oxygen in Cu(1 1 0) surface restructuring.
- Surface steps are shown as the source of Cu adatoms for (2 × 1) restructuring.
- DFT calculations show that the role of oxygen is to stabilize Cu adatoms on the terrace.
- KMC simulations with energy barrier input from DFT are employed to verify the experimental STM observations.