Temperature dependence of the xenon-layer morphology on platinum (111) studied with scanning tunneling microscopy

The temperature induced changes in the morphology of a xenon sub-monolayer adsorbed on a platinum (111) surface have been investigated using a variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The morphology changes of Xe layers adsorbed at 17K and annealed in the temperature range between 17 and 34K were compared to the morphologies of Xe layers adsorbed at different temperatures in the same range.

Effects of the single Xe atom diffusivity on Pt(111) as well as of the 2D evaporation rate of the Xe islands could be observed. The corresponding activation energies were estimated to be 0.7 kcal/mol (31 meV) and 1.5 kcal/mol (64 meV), respectively.