Nothing moves a surface: vacancy mediated surface diffusion

Details Nothing moves a surface: vacancy mediated surface diffusion Nothing moves a surface: vacancy mediated surface diffusion

2000-09-28

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0009436v1

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1562 (2001)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Materials Science

4 pages; for associated movie, see http://www-lion.leidenuniv.nl/sections/cm/groups/interface/projects/thermo

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.1562

We report scanning tunneling microscopy observations, which imply that all atoms in a close-packed copper surface move frequently, even at room temperature. Using a low density of embedded indium `tracer' atoms, we visualize the diffusive motion of surface atoms. Surprisingly, the indium atoms seem to make concerted, long jumps. Responsible for this motion is an ultra-low density of surface vacancies, diffusing rapidly within the surface. This interpretation is supported by a detailed analysis of the displacement distribution of the indium atoms, which reveals a shape characteristic for the vacancy mediated diffusion mechanism that we propose.

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