A transition from 1-dimensional to 2-dimensional structures was observed during the growth of Cu islands on Pd(110). It was found that, when Cu was deposited at substrate temperatures of less than 300K, the adatoms moved along the easy [1¯10] direction to form 1-dimensional Cu chains. At higher temperatures, transverse diffusion of adatoms began, and 2-dimensional islands started to grow. The barriers were found to be equal to 0.51 and 0.75eV, for migration along and across the [1¯10] direction, respectively. In the 2-component driven diffusion regime, the shape of the 2-dimensional Cu islands was governed by the energy difference in the 2 orthogonal diffusion barriers.

J.P.Bucher, E.Hahn, P.Fernandez, C.Massobrio, K.Kern: Europhysics Letters, 1994, 27[6], 473-8