Study of field desorption and adatom diffusion by means of direct field desorption ion imaging

Field desorption and surface diffusion of alkali and alkaline-earth metal (Na, Cs, Ba) atoms adsorbed on tungsten and iridium substrates were studied by methods of field emission microscopy. For all adatom-substrate systems studied a continuous imaging of surface in field desorption microscopy was achieved. The dependences of desorption field strength versus adsorbate concentration correlate with changes of work function of surface.