Theoretical calculations were made of the activation energies and pre-exponential factors for several diffusion processes that were involved in interlayer and intralayer transport on (100) surfaces. The thermodynamic functions, which were required in order to deduce the diffusion coefficients for adatom diffusion via hopping and exchange on a flat (100) surface, or one with a <110> or <100> step edge, exhibited an explicit dependence upon the local vibrational density of states. Hopping on a flat surface was found to be favored at low temperatures, while inclusion of the bulk thermal expansion made exchange processes competitive at higher temperatures. It was shown for the first time that the main path for interlayer transport on Ag (100) was via exchange over the <100>-step edge with a negative Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier.

Diffusion Processes Relevant to Homo-Epitaxial Growth on Ag (100) U.Kürpick, T.S.Rahman: Physical Review B, 1998, 57[4], 2482-92