Monovacancy diffusion on Ag(100), Cu(100), and Ni(100): Prefactors and activation barriers

Our calculated activation barriers and preexponential factors show that mon ovacancy diffusion is an important constituent of mass transport on Ag(100) , Cu(100), and Ni(100) and competes well with adatom diffusion. The contrib ution of lattice vibrations to the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient is incorporated through activation functions calculated in the harmonic approximation, invoking transition state theory and many-body inte raction potentials from the embedded-atom method. On all three surfaces act ivation barriers are found to increase with the inclusion of lattice therma l expansion. [S0163-1829(99)01016-3].