Overlayer
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2016) |
An overlayer is a layer of adatoms adsorbed onto a surface, for instance onto the surface of a single crystal.
Overlayers on single crystals
Adsorbed species on single crystal surfaces are frequently found to exhibit long-range ordering; that is to say that the adsorbed species form a well-defined overlayer structure. Each particular structure may only exist over a limited coverage range of the adsorbate, and in some adsorbate/substrate systems a whole progression of adsorbate structure are formed as the surface coverage is gradually increased.[1]
References
 | This chemistry-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |