Diffusion of one-dimensional clusters on Au and Pt(110) (1 x 2)

The diffusion of one-dimensional clusters on Au and Pt(110) (1 x 2) is stud ied by molecular dynamics simulations. Both metals are modeled by many-body tight-binding potentials. The energy barriers for the elementary diffusion mechanism (concerted jump, leapfrog, dissociation, etc.) are calculated, f or chains of up to six atoms, by the nudged elastic band method. The consis tency of the results on energy barriers is checked by high-temperature simu lations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.