Quasi-collective motion of nanoscale metal strings in metal surfaces

Mass transport processes on metal surfaces play a key role in epitaxial growth and coarsening processes. They are usually described in terms of independent, statistical diffusion and attachment/detachment of individual metal adatoms or vacancies. Here we present high-speed scanning tunnelling microscopy (video-STM) observations of the dynamic behaviour of five-atom-wide, hexagonally ordered strings of Au atoms embedded in the square lattice of the Au(100)-(1x1) surface that reveal quasi-collective lateral motion of these strings perpendicular to as well as along the string direction. The perpendicular motion can be ascribed to small atomic displacements in the strings induced by propagating kinks, which also provides a mechanism for the exchange of Au atoms between the two string ends, required for motion in string direction. In addition, quasi-one-dimensional transport of Au adatoms along the string boundaries may contribute to the latter phenomenon according to density functional calculations.