Sticking coefficient

Sticking coefficient is the term used in surface physics to describe the ratio of the number of adsorbate atoms (or molecules) that do adsorb, or "stick", to a surface to the total number of atoms that impinge upon that surface during the same period of time. Sometimes the symbol Sc is used to denote this coefficient, and its value is between 1.00 (all impinging atoms stick) and 0.00 (none of the atoms stick). The coefficient is inversely proportional to the exponential of the temperature and also inversely proportional to the square of the distance between atomic steps on the surface of a crystalline material. Reference: King-Ning Tu, James W. Mayer, and Leonard C. Feldman, in  Electronic Thin Film Science for Electrical Engineers and Materials Scientists , Macmillan, New York, 1992, pp. 101-102.