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Science 13 November 1992:
Vol. 258. no. 5085, pp. 1119 - 1122
DOI: 10.1126/science.258.5085.1119
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Articles

Observation of Metastable Structural Excitations and Concerted Atomic Motions on a Crystal Surface

Ing-Shouh Hwang 1 and Jene Golovchenko 2

1 Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
2 Department of Physics and Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, and Rowland Institute for Science, Cambridge, MA 02142

The addition of a small number of lead atoms to a germanium(111) surface reduces the energy barrier for activated processes, and with a tunneling microscope it is possible to observe concerted atomic motions and metastable structures on this surface near room temperature. The formation and annihilation of these metastable structural surface excitations is associated with the shift in position of large numbers of germanium surface atoms along a specific row direction like beads on an abacus. The effect provides a mechanism for understanding the transport of atoms on a semiconductor surface.

Submitted on May 27, 1992
Accepted on September 1, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mobile Point Defects and Atomic Basis for Structural Transformations of a Crystal Surface.
I.-S. Hwang, S. K. Theiss, and J. A. Golovchenko (1994)
Science 265, 490-496
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)