Direct observation of surface diffusion and atomic interactions on metal surfaces

Abstract

The unique attributes of the field ion microscope permit the direct observation of surface diffusion of single atoms and simple atomic clusters on perfect crystal planes. A brief review of the principles and techniques of such studies is presented along with a collection of much of the existing experimental data. Emphasis is placed on more recent work such as the diffusion of adatoms under the influence of a driving force, the kinetics of cluster formation and dissociation, and how the interatomic force between two atoms on a surface is related to the diffusion parameters and the pair distribution function.