  To better understand the electronic and chemical properties of wide-gap oxide
surfaces at the atomic scale, experimental work has focused on epitaxial films
on metal substrates. Recent findings show that these films are considerably
thinner than previously thought. This raises doubts about the transferability
of the results to surface properties of thicker films and bulk crystals. By
means of density-functional theory and approximate GW corrections for the
electronic spectra we demonstrate for three characteristic wide-gap oxides
(silica, alumina, and hafnia) the influence of the substrate and highlight
critical differences between the ultrathin films and surfaces of bulk
materials. Our results imply that monolayer-thin oxide films have rather unique
properties.
