“…However, it is often the case that the bulk phase diagram is not an accurate way to predict surface behavior and, in that sense, the Sn-Au system seems to be a good example of that. In this work, we apply the quantum approximate method [11][12][13] Here, it suffices to indicate that the method describes any atomic arrangement in terms of individual contributions ε i of each atom to the total energy of formation of the system, ∆H = Σε i . Each contribution ε i consists of a strain energy term, ε i,s , a chemical energy term, ε i,c , and a coupling function, g i , linking both contributions, so that ε i = ε i,s + g i ε i,c .…”