It was noted that surface diffusion was one of the basic processes determining the morphology of a growing film. In the case of metal hetero-epitaxy upon Si(111)-(7 x 7), the diffusion was strongly affected by the presence of surface reconstruction; which introduced additional constraints into the motion of deposited atoms. To determine diffusion parameters, two different approaches were used. One was the interpretation of experimentally observed morphologies by using a coarse-grained kinetic Monte Carlo model, and the other was direct observation of adatom movement using ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. The attempt frequency and the barrier to hopping of a single Ag atom between half-unit cells of the reconstruction were estimated in both cases. Obtained values were compared and discussed.

Reconstruction-Determined Diffusion of Ag Adatoms on the Si(111)-(7 x 7) Surface. P.Sobotík, I.Oštádal, P.Kocán, J.Myslivecek, T.Jarolímek: Czechoslovak Journal of Physics, 2003, 53[1], 69-74