Atomistic modeling and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations were reviewed, with emphasis being placed on two-component adatom systems. The situation considered was that of two types of atoms co-deposited onto the substrate. Surface diffusion and nucleation led to the formation of two-dimensional islands, before two-dimensional cluster growth began. In distinction to well-known growth scenarios for one species of adatoms, a wealth of new aspects arose in binary systems. Already in the regime of sub-monolayer growth, differences in adatom diffusion coefficients and binding energies make it necessary to generalize traditional scaling relations for island densities. Surface segregation and compositional fluctuations in growing 3-D clusters were issues requiring renewed examination under the point of view that the atomic short-range order, which was frozen in the bulk, was generated through the surface kinetics during previous stages of growth.

Diffusion and Cluster Growth of Binary Alloys on Surfaces. M.Einax, W.Dieterich, P.Maass: Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 2012, 226[5-6], 355-76