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Single-Atom Diffusion on Silver and Gold Surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Ghyslain Boisvert  and
Laurent J. Lewis
Ghyslain Boisvert
Affiliation:
Département de physique et Groupe de recherche en physique et technologie des couches Minces, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale A, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7
Laurent J. Lewis
Affiliation:
Département de physique et Groupe de recherche en physique et technologie des couches Minces, Université de Montréal, Case postale 6128, Succursale A, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7
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Abstract

We present the results of a detailed Molecular-dynamics study of single-atom diffusion on the surfaces Ag (100) and (111), and Au (111), using the embedded-atom method to describe the interactions between the atoms. We find that diffusion is Arrhenius-like up to temperatures corresponding to a large fraction of the activation energy. We demonstrate, in addition, that an excellent description of the rate of diffusion is provided by a simple transition-state theory, together with parameters that derive directly from the static potential-energy surface. The Model predicts very accurately the activation energies, while the prefactor for diffusion is obtained within a factor of 2, a discrepancy we attribute to the neglect, in the Model, of the details of the structure of the surface. At higher temperatures, diffusion becomes clearly non-Arrhenius, and the model fails.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 317: Symposium B – Mechanisms of Thin Film Evolution , 1993 , 71
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

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References

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