Diffusion of large two-dimensional Ag clusters on Ag(100)
Abstract
Scanning tunneling microscopy shows that large, two-dimensional Ag clusters on Ag(100) can diffuse. The value of the diffusion coefficient at room temperature is of order 10-17 cm2 s-1 and varies a little, if at all, with cluster size in the range studied, 100 to 720 atoms per cluster. This weak variation rules out periphery diffusion as the main mechanism of cluster diffusion, suggesting instead two-dimensional evaporation-condensation. This conclusion is compatible with the energetics of atomic-scale events within the cluster, and with the dissolution of small clusters observed at low coverages.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- November 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.2591
- Bibcode:
- 1994PhRvL..73.2591W
- Keywords:
-
- 68.35.Fx;
- 61.16.Ch;
- 66.30.Fq;
- 68.60.-p;
- Diffusion;
- interface formation;
- Self-diffusion in metals semimetals and alloys;
- Physical properties of thin films nonelectronic