Abstract

AbstractInteractions dictating the shape and stability of surface islands have been examined for a simple model system, palladium clusters on the W(110) plane. Observations in a field ion microscope of the distribution of two Pd adatoms over the surface yield quantitative values for pair interactions. These are found to be complex, extending over distances longer than 10 A and to vary strongly with the orientation of the pair axis on the (110) surface. Using the measured pair energies it has been possible to infer the magnitude of many-atom effects necessary to account for the equilibrium shape of the clusters. Many-atom interactions turn out to make by far the largest contribution to cluster cohesion; modeling of growth phenomena in terms of nearest-neighbor bonds only is clearly problematic.

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