The mechanisms and kinetics of Pd adatom self-diffusion on a single-crystal (001) surface were investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations. It was shown that the migration of adatoms on (001) occurred mainly via the relay-race mechanism, with the participation of substrate atoms. The activation energy for an elementary event of relay-race self-diffusion was deduced from the kinetic equation which described the change in the initial concentration of surface adatoms.

Atomic Mechanisms and Kinetics of Self-Diffusion on the Pd(001) Surface. A.V.Evteev, A.T.Kosilov, S.A.Solyanik: Physics of the Solid State, 2004, 46[9], 1781-4