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Dynamics of Adatom Self‐Diffusion and Island Morphology Evolution at a Cu(100) Surface
Author(s) -
Xie Qian
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3951(199805)207:1<153::aid-pssb153>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - diffusion , surface diffusion , chemical physics , molecular dynamics , morphology (biology) , surface (topology) , dimer , materials science , chemistry , computational chemistry , physics , adsorption , geometry , thermodynamics , geology , paleontology , mathematics , organic chemistry
Molecular dynamics simulation of adatom self‐diffusion and island morphology evolution at a Cu(100) surface is performed with the aim of a better understanding of the dynamical process. The simulation is at first carried out for a surface without adatoms or islands, and the vibrational spectra of the surface layers at different temperatures are calculated. We then add adatoms and islands to the surface, and perform simulations for systems with different surface structures. Based on the simulation results for a single adatom, we discuss a resonance mechanism possibly by which the adatom diffusion is activated by the surface vibration. The simulation results of an ad‐dimer show a dancing motion of the dimer when it is about to dissociate. Finally we study the morphology of an island at finite temperatures. Our simulation results suggest that the exchange diffusion mechanism plays an important role on reshaping the island.