The step distance dependence of the kink creation energy determined on vicinal silver surfaces

Using a statistical analysis of high-speed scanning tunneling microscopy movies, we determine the formation energy of kinks in the steps on Ag(113) to be W₀=1280±25 K. To examine the step distance dependence of this energy we compare our result with the kink formation energy previously measured on the Ag(115) surface. In addition, we perform effective medium theory (EMT) calculations of kink energies on silver surfaces with various orientations. Both experiment and calculations show that the kink creation energy is almost independent of the distance between the steps.