An adatom is an atom that lies on a crystal surface, and can be thought of as the opposite of a surface vacancy. This term is used in surface chemistry, when describing single atoms lying on surfaces and surface roughness. The word is a contraction of "adsorbed atom". A single atom, cluster of atoms, or a molecule or cluster of molecules may all be referred to by the general term "adparticle". This is often a thermodynamically unfavorable state, however, cases such as graphene may provide counter-examples.

[edit] References

• Marian A. Herman, Wolfgang Richter, Helmut Sitter (2004). Epitaxy: Physical Principles and Technical Implementation. Springer. p. 322. ISBN 3540678212. 

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