adatomen

Adatomen is not a standard entry in most scientific or encyclopedic references. In many Dutch-language contexts, adatomen is used as the plural form of adatom, a term carried over from English to describe atoms that are adsorbed on a surface rather than embedded in the bulk lattice. When discussed in English, the singular is adatom and the plural is adatoms.

An adatom is an individual atom that resides on the surface of a solid. It sits at adsorption sites such as atop a surface atom, in a hollow site, or at a bridge between two surface atoms, with binding governed by adsorption energy. Adatoms are often produced during thin-film deposition, surface reactions, or atomistic manipulation and can migrate across the surface via diffusion. The diffusion behavior depends on factors like temperature, surface structure, and the presence of other adsorbates, and it influences how islands of material form during growth.

Adatom dynamics are central to several areas of surface science and materials engineering. In catalysis, the activity and selectivity of a surface can depend on the arrangement and mobility of adatoms. In epitaxial growth and nanostructure fabrication, adatom diffusion and aggregation determine film roughness, island size, and crystallographic quality. Studying adatoms provides insights into fundamental processes such as adsorption energetics, surface reconstructions, and the transport of matter at the atomic scale.

Common techniques to study adatomen/adatoms include scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and various spectroscopic methods. These approaches help visualize individual atoms, measure diffusion barriers, and characterize surface structures.