THE CHAINS OF ADATOMS AS A RESULT OF OSCILLATORY INTERACTIONS

It was shown that at law temperatures and coverages the adatoms intera cting by indirect oscillatory interactions have a tendency to form cha ins instead of close-packed clusters. It is a result of a repulsion ba rrier which interacting adatoms must overcome before reaching an equil ibrium position. The calculated repulsion barriers around dimer, trime r and chain of seven adatoms are presented. At a low temperature the e xternal adatom joining such a cluster prefers a position with the lowe st number of nearest neighbours, which results in formation of the cha ins or open clusters.