Distinguishing step relaxation mechanisms via pair correlation functions
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-10 v1
Abstract
Theoretical predictions of coupled step motion are tested by direct STM measurement of the fluctuations of near-neighbor pairs of steps on Si(111)-root3 x root3 R30 - Al at 970K. The average magnitude of the pair-correlation function is within one standard deviation of zero, consistent with uncorrelated near-neighbor step fluctuations. The time dependence of the pair-correlation function shows no statistically significant agreement with the predicted t^1/2 growth of pair correlations via rate-limiting atomic diffusion between adjacent steps. The physical considerations governing uncorrelated step fluctuations occurring via random attachment/detachment events at the step edge are discussed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0408463,
title = {Distinguishing step relaxation mechanisms via pair correlation functions},
author = {D. B. Dougherty and I. Lyubinetsky and T. L. Einstein and E. D. Williams},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0408463},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
17 pages, 4 figures