  Low-energy atomic impacts on the Ag(110) surface are investigated by
molecular dynamics simulations based on reliable many-body semiempirical
potentials. Trajectory deflections (steering) caused by the atom-surface
interaction are observed, together with impact-following, transient-mobility
effects. Such processes are quantitatively analysed and their dependence on the
initial kinetic energy and on the impinging direction is discussed. A clear
influence of the surface anisotropy on both steering and transient mobility
effects is revealed by our simulations for the simple isolated-atom case and in
the submonolayer-growth regime. For the latter case, we illustrate how steering
and transient mobility affect the film morphology at the nanoscale.
