Detailed molecular statics estimations were made of the energy barriers to various adatom movements, in the vicinity of small islands on the (111) surfaces, using the Rosato-Guillope-Legrand interatomic potential. It was found that, for both systems, exchange processes were energetically favoured at the expense of direct adatom jumps. It was observed that the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barriers to exchange decreased appreciably on small islands; in comparison with single steps on the surface.

Energy Barriers for Interlayer Diffusion in Pt/Pt(111) and Rh/Rh(111) Homoepitaxy - Small Islands. F.Maca, M.Kotrla, O.S.Trushin: Czechoslovak Journal of Physics, 1999, 49[11], 1591-6