It was shown by recent experiments that bulk immiscible metals (e.g. Ag/Cu, Ag/Co and Au/Ni) could form binary alloys on certain surfaces where the substrate mediated the elastic misfits between the two components, thus relieving the elastic strain in the overlayer. These novel surface alloys exhibit a rich phase structure. A 2-component Frenkel–Kontorova model in one dimension was formulated for the study of surface alloy formation. This model could naturally incorporate dislocation formation that played a crucial role in determining the actual structure of the system. By using energy minimization calculations, a phase diagram was obtained in terms of the average alloy composition and the energy of mixing. Monte Carlo simulations were also used to study the structure and interaction of emerging dislocations.

A Two-Component Frenkel-Kontorowa Model for Surface Alloy Formation. I.Daruka, J.C.Hamilton: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 2003 15[12], 1827-36