We have studied how the sticking coefficient on metal surfaces depends on the substrate temperature $T_s$ when the energy exchange is due to electron-hole pairs. A previously derived exact result for the energy-loss (-gain) probability in one round trip is generalized to finite substrate temperatures. This serves as the input for the stochastic equation which is used to describe the adparticle motion in the adsorption well. The solution of this equation shows that two competing effects can lead to a very weak dependence of the sticking probability on the substrate temperature.

• Received 22 June 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.24.7084