Photo-emission electron microscopy was used for studying the thermal decay of Ag islands grown epitaxially on a Si(111) surface. During the decay, the islands feed adatoms to the surrounding surface. The adatoms diffused and eventually desorb, resulting in a radial coverage gradient that induces the formation of two concentric reconstructed zones, namely (√3 x √3)R30° and (3 x 1), around each island. A diffusion model was developed in order to describe this multizone formation and to demonstrate how diffusion constants could be determined for different reconstructed phases in a simple experiment.

Imaging Diffusion Fields on a Surface with Multiple Reconstructions: Ag/Si(111). D.Wall, I.Lohmar, K.R.Roos, J.Krug, M.Horn-von Hoegen, F.J.Meyer zu Heringdorf: New Journal of Physics, 2010, 12[10], 103019