M. Morgenstern et al., ONSET OF INTERSTITIAL DIFFUSION DETERMINED BY SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY, Physical review letters, 79(7), 1997, pp. 1305-1308
A new method using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) to determine the onset temperature of the diffusion of self-inte
rstitial atoms is presented. The interstitials are produced by a low f
luence of Ne+ (4.5 keV) bombardment of Pt(111) at 20 K. At 22 K, the i
nterstitials become mobile and migrate to the surface where they pop o
ut and can be detected as new adatoms by STM. The time dependence of t
he appearance of the interstitials at the surface is measured for two
temperatures, allowing estimation of the diffusion parameters.