Energetics and dynamics at a metal surface
- Ames Lab., IA (United States); and others
Metal surfaces are proving to be surprisingly fluid, even at room temperature. We are studying this phenomenon by depositing thin films, monitoring their initial structure and subsequent evolution via STM. Deposition typically results in non-equilibrium configurations. Comparison of observed features with Monte Carlo simulations of an appropriate model for nucleation and growth provides estimates of terrace diffusion and adatom bond energies. The time-dependent evolution toward a more favorable arrangement (known as coarsening) is then followed. Using this approach, we have discovered that two-dimensional Ag clusters on Ag(100) are very mobile. The magnitude of the cluster diffusion coefficient can be related to the above-mentioned energies. The diffusion of these clusters controls coarsening of the Ag films under all but extreme conditions, in contrast to normal expectations of Ostwald ripening as the dominant coarsening mechanism.
- OSTI ID:
- 559969
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970443--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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