Atomic mechanisms and kinetics of self-diffusion on the Pd(001) surface

The atomic mechanisms and kinetics of self-diffusion of Pd adatoms on a single-crystal Pd(001) surface are investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. It is shown that the migration of Pd adatoms on the Pd(001) surface predominantly occurs through the relay-race mechanism with the participation of substrate atoms. The activation energy for an elementary event of relay-race self-diffusion is calculated from the kinetic equation describing the change in the concentration of surface adatoms labeled at the initial instant of time.