A high-resolution low-energy electron diffraction study was made of 2-dimensional island distributions which resulted from depositing 0.3 of a monolayer of Ag onto Ag(100). The substrate temperature ranged from 170 to 295K. By analyzing the ring structure, or so-called splitting of the diffraction profiles, the behavior of the spatial correlation length which characterized the island distribution was determined. The precise relationship between this correlation length and the mean island separation was also determined by analyzing the kinematic diffraction from island distributions. The resultant estimates of the separation were consistent with ones that were based upon the results of a scanning tunnelling microscopy study which had been performed at 295K. The Arrhenius behavior of the correlation length indicated a terrace diffusion barrier, for Ag on Ag(100), of 0.40eV; with a vibrational pre-factor of about 3 x 1013/s.

L.Bardotti, C.R.Stoldt, C.J.Jenks, M.C.Bartelt, J.W.Evans, P.A.Thiel: Physical Review B, 1998, 57[19], 12544-9