Wavelength Selection in Unstable Homoepitaxial Step Flow Growth
1999; American Physical Society; Volume: 83; Issue: 21 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1103/physrevlett.83.4353
ISSN1092-0145
AutoresThomas Maroutian, Ludovic Douillard, H.-J. Ernst,
Tópico(s)Solidification and crystal growth phenomena
ResumoThe growth of Cu on a vicinal Cu surface is investigated using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. A meandering instability caused by the step edge barrier for diffusion leads to a lateral patterning of the surface with a temperature-dependent, distinctive wavelength. This length scale is set by nucleation of one-dimensional islands at step edges. In the temperature range covered by our experiment (230 to 400 K) a specific slope of the growth features within the plane of the surface is selected. This may point to a pronounced spatial anisotropy of the step edge barrier.
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