Dynamics of Surface Migration in the Weak Corrugation Regime

J. V. Barth; H. Brune; B. Fischer; J. Weckesser; K. Kern

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.1732

Dynamics of Surface Migration in the Weak Corrugation Regime

J. V. Barth, H. Brune, B. Fischer, J. Weckesser, and K. Kern

Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1732 – Published 21 February 2000

Abstract

We report a systematic study for metal-on-metal surface migration in the weak corrugation regime, i.e., with migration barriers falling below $\approx 100 meV$ . The migration characteristics are elucidated by variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy observations in the 50–200 K temperature range, which are analyzed by means of nucleation theory. The results demonstrate that, upon entering the weak corrugation regime, the dynamics of the systems are characterized by increasingly reduced effective preexponential factors, while Arrhenius behavior prevails.

Received 8 July 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.1732

Authors & Affiliations

J. V. Barth^*, H. Brune, B. Fischer, J. Weckesser, and K. Kern^†

Institut de Physique Expérimentale, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

^*Email address: johannes.barth@epfl.ch
^†Also at Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstraße 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany. Email address: kern@kern.mpi-Stuttgart.mpg.de