The effect of surface reconstruction upon the kinetics of absorption and desorption was analyzed in the framework of a phenomenological model based on the following assumptions. The activation energy for adsorption on the perfect unreconstructed surface was so high that at the beginning the sticking occurred only near defect sites. This process was accompanied by a restructuring of the adjacent sites. The latter in turn facilitated further adsorption. If defect sites were arranged on the surface at random, the adsorption kinetics was described by the Avrami equations and the desorption kinetics was of first order. If the sticking occurred near step sites, the kinetics of adsorption and desorption could be of zeroth order.

Surface Reconstruction and Kinetics of Adsorption, Desorption and Island Growth (Phenomenological Analysis). V.P.Zhdanov: Physics Letters A, 1993, 179[6], 419-22