Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The binding energies of a copper adatom and its cluster to the copper (111) surface have been calculated. The binding energy EN of an N-adatom cluster can be roughly written as EN = 3NE1 + mE2, where 3N1 is the binding energy of a single adatom to the (111) surface and m is the number of bonds within the cluster and E2is the binding energy of the bond within the cluster. It was found that E1 = 0.87 eV and E2 = 0.40 – 0.32 eV. The activation energies of motion of these adatom clusters and vacancies and di vacancies on copper (111) and (100) surfaces have been calculated by use of n-body embedded atom potentials and molecular dynamics.