Abstract.
The coverage of vicinal, stepped surfaces with molecules is simulated with the help of a two-dimensional Ising model including local distortions and an Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier term at the steps. An effective two-spin model is capable to describe the main properties of this distorted Ising model. It is employed to analyze the behavior of the system close to the critical points. Within a well-defined regime of bonding strengths and Ehrlich-Schwoebel barriers we find a reduction of coverage (magnetization) at low temperatures due to the presence of the surface step. This results in a second, low-temperature transition besides the standard Ising order-disorder transition. The additional transition is characterized by a divergence of the susceptibility as a finite-size effect. Due to the surface step the mean-field specific heat diverges with a power law.
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Morawetz, K., Olbrich, C. & Gemming, S. Reduction of surface coverage of finite systems due to geometrical steps. Eur. Phys. J. B 62, 311–317 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00168-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00168-y