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Have We Found The Final Explanation For The Onset Of Rapid Interlayer Mass Transport?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

M. Giesen
Affiliation:
Institut für Schichten und Grenzflächen, ISG 3, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D 52425 Jülich, Germany
H. Ibach
Affiliation:
Institut für Schichten und Grenzflächen, ISG 3, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D 52425 Jülich, Germany
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Abstract

In recent STM experiments on multilayer island decay on Cu(111) in UHV a novel rapid interlayer mass transport was observed. This new transport mechanism may accelerate island stack decay by several orders of magnitude. Initial explanations for the onset of rapid decay events were based on the correlation between the occupation of surface states and the presence of a step edge barrier for adatom hopping over the island edges. We present new experimental data measured for Ag(111) which are in contradiction to the former interpretation of rapid interlayer mass transport. We show that all experimental results may be explained by considering an exchange mechanism when island edges in a stack are in close proximity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

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References

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