Reliable lateral manipulation of a single Ag adatom on a Ag(1 1 1) surface with a trimer-apex tip

We study the reliability of the lateral manipulation of a single Ag adatom on a Ag(1 1 1) surface with the single-atom and trimer-apex tips based on molecular statics simulations using surface embedded-atom-method potential. The dependence of the manipulation reliability on tip height and orientation is investigated. For the single-atom tip the manipulation reliability increases monotonically with decreasing tip height, which is owing to the strengthened lateral tip-adatom interaction as the tip height lowers. For the trimer-apex tip, the manipulation reliability is sensitive to the tip orientation in the lower tip-height range, while in the higher tip-height range the manipulation reliability is independent of the tip orientation and moreover can be greatly improved due to the strong vertical attraction of the tip on the adatom as compared to the single-atom tip. We also compare these results to those for manipulating single Cu adatoms on the Cu(1 1 1) surface, reveal the underlying physics, and propose the method to improve the manipulation reliability for different systems.     

Lateral and vertical manipulations of single atoms on the Ag(1 1 1) surface with the copper single-atom and trimer-apex tips

We study the lateral and vertical manipulations of single Ag and Cu atoms on the Ag(1 1 1) surface with the Cu single-atom and trimer-apex tips using molecular statics simulations. The reliability of the lateral manipulation with the Cu single-atom tip is investigated, and compared with that for the Ag tips. We find that overall the manipulation reliability (MR) increases with the decreasing tip height, and in a wide tip-height range the MR is better than those for both the Ag single-atom and trimer-apex tips. This is due to the stronger attractive force of the Cu tip and its better stability against the interactions with the Ag surface. With the Cu trimer-apex tip, the single Ag and Cu adatoms can be picked up from the flat Ag(1 1 1) surface, and moreover a reversible vertical manipulation of single Ag atoms on the stepped Ag(1 1 1) surface is possible, suggesting a method to modify two-dimensional Ag nanostructures on the Ag(1 1 1) surface with the Cu trimer-apex tip.     

Ab-initio calculations of interactions between Cu adatoms on Cu(1 1 0): Sensitivity of strong multi-site interactions to adatom relaxations

We have parameterized the various interactions between Cu adatoms on Cu(1 1 0) using density-functional theory based ab-initio calculations. Our results indicate that in addition to pair interactions, 3-adatom and 4-adatom interactions of significant strengths are present in this system. This further stresses the importance of multi-site interactions in constructing a complete lattice–gas picture. Even though adding these multi-site interactions leads to good convergence in interaction energies, we find that some multi-site interactions are very sensitive to adatom relaxations. This makes the application of a simple lattice–gas picture inadequate for such surfaces. We also parameterize adatom interactions on this surface using the recently developed connector model. The connector model parameterization is as efficient as the parameterization using lattice–gas model. Further, we present diffusion barriers for nearest-neighbor (NN) and next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) hops on this surface.     

Adsorption and diffusion of a Si adatom on the H/Si(1 1 1) surface: comparison with the H/Si(0 0 1) surface

Using a first-principles method, we investigate the adsorption and diffusion of a Si adatom on the H-terminated Si(1 1 1) substrate, which would be useful in understanding the initial stages of Si homoepitaxy using a H surfactant. The adatom substitutes H atom(s) to form a monohydride structure or a dihydride structure. In forming the monohydride structure, the energy barrier for H substitution is absent. The adatom migrates on the surface with alternating its chemical state between monohydride and dihydride. These behaviors of the adatom are quite similar to those on the H/Si(0 0 1)2 × 1 surface, despite the significant difference in the substrate structure between both orientations. The resulting diffusion barrier is 1.30 eV, which is also comparable to that on the H/Si(0 0 1)2 × 1 surface.     

Coverage temperature phase diagram of LEED spot and arced streak intensities for Li on Cu(0 0 1) surface using lattice gas model

It has been established that the arced streaks connecting four spots observed in LEED for a Li system adsorbed on a Cu(0 0 1) surface originate from the Bragg reflection from parallel adatomic lines on a c(2 × 2) lattice site. For example, one streak at about k_y = π/a originates from the parallel atomic lines including two atoms separated at a distance of d_y = 2a, which is the second-neighbor distance in a c(2 × 2) lattice.The c(2 × 2) structure sites consist of two sublattices with y = 2na and y = (2n + 1)a. Here, the difference in the number of adatoms on the two sublattices is the cause of the intensity of the midpoint of the streak, where the differences depend on the coverage of adatoms, Θ.In this study, using a lattice gas model on the substrate lattice with Monte Carlo simulation, we obtain the coverage and temperature dependence of intensities of the spots for the c(2 × 2) structure and the streaks.We found that the intensity of the streaks increase and decrease within the coverage range 0 < Θ < 0.5. That of the spots increases monotonically in this coverage range. These theoretical findings are similar to the experimental results.On the other hand, as temperature is increased, the intensity of the streaks increases and becomes saturated. We found a similar phenomenon using analytical calculation by statistical mechanics. In addition, the intensity of the spots decreased with the second-order transition.     

Adsorption characteristics of atomic nitrogen on ruthenium surfaces

We have studied the adsorption, vibration, and diffusion of N atoms on Ru(0 0 0 1), , and surfaces by means of the 5-parameter Morse potential (5-MP) of interaction between atomic nitrogen and a metal surface. The adsorption sites, adsorption geometry, binding energy and eigenvibration of atomic nitrogen on the different ruthenium surfaces are calculated. It is shown that atomic nitrogen always preferably occupies the high coordination sites on Ru surfaces. The 4-fold site is the preferable adsorption site for atomic nitrogen on both open and surfaces while 3-fold site is the most stable adsorption site for atomic nitrogen on both Ru(0 0 0 1) and surfaces. Moreover, we find the lowest energy pathway of diffusion and diffusion barriers of atomic nitrogen on the surfaces.     

Embedded-atom potential for Fe and its application to self-diffusion on Fe(1 0 0)

We have constructed an embedded-atom potential for Fe by fitting to both experimental and first-principles results. The potential reproduces with satisfactory accuracy the lattice properties, surface energies and point defect energies for both BCC and the high temperature FCC phases of the metal. The potential was used in tandem with molecular-dynamics simulations to calculate the thermal expansion of both BCC-Fe and FCC-Fe, the phonon dispersion curves, mean-square displacements and surface relaxations of the element. In addition, we have studied self-diffusion of single adatoms on the BCC-Fe(1 0 0) surface at several temperatures. The migration energies and pre-exponential factors for three main diffusion mechanisms were determined and compared with available experimental data. We have found that the diagonal exchange diffusion process is energetically favored over the direct hopping mechanism and that its migration energy is close to the experimental value. Furthermore, the diffusion coefficient associated with the diagonal exchange diffusion process is about an order of magnitude higher than those of the hopping and the non-diagonal exchange mechanisms.     

Steady state energy distribution function of adatoms in reactive adsorption

The interplay between the energy distribution function of adatoms and the rate of diatom formation in catalytic reaction is studied by means of mean field rate equations. The recombination of adatoms is described as a multi-channel process where adatom desorption arises from several energy levels. It is shown that the distribution function can be computed, analytically, as a function of the ratio between recombination probability and rate constant for energy disposal to the solid. This parameter is the key quantity of the kinetics since it governs both reaction rate and the shape of the energy distribution function. It is found that, in order to obtain steady state conditions, the control parameter is constrained within a well defined interval of values which result lower than unity. It is shown that a kinetic transition takes place for the highest value of the parameter, which entails hyperthermal reaction rate.