CLUSTERING ON SURFACES

In this review we summarize the current theoretical and experimental understanding of clustering phenomena on surfaces, with an emphasis on dynamical properties. The basic theoretical concepts to predict evolving cluster size distributions are presented, with extensions to less restrictive assumptions, such as including the influence of non-zero deposition rates. The discussion of experimental results to test these concepts is preceded by a brief introduction of the experimental techniques used in morphological cluster studies. Finally, two important physical surface quantities, surface diffusion coefficients and adatom binding energies, are used to demonstrate the impact of clustering in their understanding.