https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050885
Stability and diffusion of surface clusters
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Hochschule, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Corresponding author: a selke@physik.rwth-aachen.de
Received:
20
January
1999
Published online: 15 August 1999
Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and a bond-counting ansatz, thermal stability and diffusion of an adatom island on a crystal surface are studied. At low temperatures, the diffusion constant D is found to decrease for a wide range of island sizes like D∞N-∞, where α is close to one, N being the number of adatoms in the cluster. By heating up the surface, the system undergoes a phase transition above which the island disappears. Characteristics of that transition are discussed.
PACS: 68.35.Fx – Diffusion; interface formation / 82.20.Wt – Computational modeling; simulation / 36.40.Sx – Diffusion and dynamics of clusters
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1999
