Physics – Condensed Matter – Materials Science
Scientific paper
2001-10-31
Surf. Sci. 521, 10 (2002)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Materials Science
26 pages, 14 figures
Scientific paper
10.1016/S0039-6028(02)02250-1
We have used the indium/copper surface alloy to study the dynamics of surface vacancies on the Cu(001) surface. Individual indium atoms that are embedded within the first layer of the crystal, are used as probes to detect the rapid diffusion of surface vacancies. STM measurements show that these indium atoms make multi-lattice-spacing jumps separated by long time intervals. Temperature dependent waiting time distributions show that the creation and diffusion of thermal vacancies form an Arrhenius type process with individual long jumps being caused by one vacancy only. The length of the long jumps is shown to depend on the specific location of the indium atom and is directly related to the lifetime of vacancies at these sites on the surface. This observation is used to expose the role of step edges as emitting and absorbing boundaries for vacancies.
Frenken Joost J. W. M.
Saarloos Wim van
Somfai Ellak
van Albada Siebe B.
van Gastel Raoul
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