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Piecewise diffusion of the Si dimer, Physical Review B. 59, 1598 (1999).

Brian Borovsky, Michael Krueger, and Eric Ganz

We present a detailed view of the diffusion of silicon dimers on the silicon (001) surface. Through a combination of atom-tracking and ab initio modeling, the dimer is shown to move one atom at a time rather than as a two-atom unit. The details of the pathway depend on the diffusion channel: On top of dimer rows, the two atoms of a dimer separate but remain bound during diffusion. In the troughs between dimer rows, the two atoms separate completely and move independently before rejoining in a new location.

 


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