Related papers: Crystal symmetry, step-edge diffusion and unstable…
We face the problem to determine the slope dependent current during the epitaxial growth process of a crystal surface. This current is proportional to delta=(p+) + (p-), where (p+/-) are the probabilities for an atom landing on a terrace to…
We studied the step dynamics during crystal sublimation and growth in the limit of fast surface diffusion and slow kinetics of atom attachment-detachment at the steps. For this limit we formulate a model free of the quasi-static…
We study the step meandering instability on a surface characterized by the alternation of terraces with different properties, as in the case of Si(001). The interplay between diffusion anisotropy and step stiffness induces a finite…
We consider the effect of nucleation on a one-dimensional stepped surface, finding that step-flow growth is metastable for any strength of the additional step-edge barrier. The surface is made unstable by the formation of a critical…
A solid-on-solid model of epitaxial growth in 1+1 dimensions is investigated in which slope dependent upward and downward particle currents compete on the surface. The microscopic mechanisms which give rise to these currents are the…
We investigate the nonlinear evolution of the Bales-Zangwill instability, responsible for the meandering of atomic steps on a growing vicinal surface. We develop an asymptotic method to derive, in the continuous limit, an evolution equation…
The growth of crystal surfaces, under non-equilibrium conditions, involves the displacement of mono-atomic steps by atom diffusion and atom incorporations into steps. The time-evolution of the growing crystal surface is thus governed by a…
The morphology of a growing crystal surface is studied in the case of an unstable two-dimensional step flow. Competition between bunching and meandering of steps leads to a variety of patterns characterized by their respective instability…
We report the results of computer simulations of epitaxial growth in the presence of a large Schwoebel barrier on different crystal surfaces: simple cubic(001), bcc(001), simple hexagonal(001) and hcp(001). We find, that mounds coarse by a…
The quasistatic approximation is a useful but questionable simplification for analyzing step instabilities during the growth/evaporation of vicinal surfaces. Using this approximation, we characterized in Part I of this work the effect on…
We consider the growth of a vicinal crystal surface in the presence of a step-edge barrier. For any value of the barrier strength, measured by the length l_es, nucleation of islands on terraces is always able to destroy asymptotically…
We study the step bunching kinetic instability in a growing crystal surface characterized by anisotropic diffusion. The instability is due to the interplay between the elastic interactions and the alternation of step parameters. This…
We study the evolution from a liquid to a crystal phase in two-dimensional curved space. At early times, while crystal seeds grow preferentially in regions of low curvature, the lattice frustration produced in regions with high curvature is…
We approach the old-standing problem of vicinal crystal surfaces destabilized by step-down and step step-up currents from a unified modelling viewpoint with focus on both the initial and the intermediate stages of the instability. We…
Step meandering instability in a Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF)-type model for the growth of an isolated, atomically high step on a crystal surface is analyzed. It is assumed that the growth is sustained by the molecular precursors deposition…
We introduce a simple two region model where the diffusion constant in a small region around each step on a vicinal surface can differ from that found on the terraces. Steady state results for this model provide a physically suggestive…
The steps at the crystal surfaces could be transparent for the migrating adatoms. In the case of significant transparency the velocity of a given step in a given moment is affected by detachment of atoms from rather distant steps in rather…
In this paper we focus on crystal surfaces led out of equilibrium by a growth or erosion process. As a consequence of that the surface may undergo morphological instabilities and develop a distinct structure: ondulations, mounds or…
Step meandering due to a deterministic morphological instability on vicinal surfaces during growth is studied. We investigate nonlinear dynamics of a step model with asymmetric step kinetics, terrace and line diffusion, by means of a…
Scanning tunneling microscopy experiments show that the unstable growth morphology observed during molecular beam homoepitaxy on slightly vicinal Si(001) surfaces consists of straight step bunches. The instability occurs under step- flow…