An investigation was made of the variation in the electromigration driving force which was felt by Na adatoms in the vicinity of other adatoms, adatom rows and small planar islands. The wind valence tensor was calculated by using methods for non-compact Na clusters on a semi-infinite flat jellium substrate which carried an electrical current. As an adatom approached another adatom, atom row, island or step edge, the magnitude of the electromigration driving force which was experienced by an adatom was altered; relative to the force felt by an isolated adatom on a large flat terrace. This change in the corresponding wind valence was consistent with a model in which a multiple back-scattering of carriers between the adatom and the island altered the net momentum transfer between the carriers and the adatom.

Wind Force for Adatom Electromigration on Heterogeneous Surfaces. P.J.Rous, D.N.Bly: Physical Review B, 2000, 62[12], 8478-86