We present results for collective diffusion of adatoms on a stepped substrate with a submonolayer coverage. We study the combined effect of the additional binding at step edge, the Schwoebel barrier, the enhanced diffusion along step edges, and the finite coverage on diffusion as a function of step density. In particular, we examine the crossover from step--dominated diffusion at high step density to terrace-dominated behavior at low step density in a lattice-gas model using analytical Green's function techniques and Monte Carlo simulations. The influence of steps on diffusion is shown to be more pronounced than previously anticipated.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9605128,
title = {Diffusion on a stepped substrate},
author = {Juha Merikoski and See-Chen Ying},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9605128},
year = {2009}
}