Fast dimer diffusion near the island: A computational study

Performing atomic scale simulations, we study the diffusion of small Co clusters on Cu(111) surface in the presence of Co islands. It is revealed that mesoscopic relaxations at the island-substrate interface play an important role during the diffusion events of the clusters. The diffusion barrier of small Co clusters near the islands increases with increasing cluster size. Especially, we find that dimer diffusion near the island with B step is as fast as monomer’s, which might be responsible for the formation of dendritic shaped islands at low temperature.