A historic perspective of FIM and STM studies of surface diffusion

The earliest direct observations and successful studies of surface diffusion of individual atoms used field ion microscopy (FIM). Information obtainable with FIM now includes diffusion parameters, energetics of various atomic processes, displacement and jump-length distributions, diffusion mechanisms, step effects, and adatom interactions. Material systems that can be studied are confined mostly to refractory metals. With the advent of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), surface diffusion can now be studied for a wider range of atoms and molecules, and material surfaces. As the surface area is also much larger, methods that can be used are also more diverse. But experiences learned from FIM studies have undoubtedly stimulated many recent STM works.