Abstract
Assuming a vacancy-mediated diffusion, a continuum model for electromigration-driven transport of an embedded atom cluster across a surface terrace of a phase-separating surface alloy, such as fcc AgPt(111), is presented. Computations show that the electron wind carries the cluster over hundreds of lattice spacings and in the set direction, while the cluster grows and its purity improves during the drift. Impacts of the current density, the diffusion anisotropy, the magnitude, and sign of the ratio of the effective charges , and the jump frequencies ratio on the cluster's drift speed, drift direction, purity, and shape are demonstrated.
2 More- Received 29 September 2020
- Revised 13 January 2021
- Accepted 26 January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.024001
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