Diffusion on surfaces

A commentary is presented on current progress towards understanding diffusion on surfaces. Recent work by field ion microscopy shows that interactions between diffusing adatoms lead to correlated motions and add unexpected complexity to the elementary diffusion mechanisms. Work on high temperature surface self-diffusion also suggests the importance of interactions between diffusing atoms. Mass transport, catalysed surface diffusion, giant diffusivities, impurity, tracer and adsorbed layer diffusion, diffusion in sintering and other applications, are briefly discussed.