Epitaxial growth of Cu on Cu(001): experiments and simulations

A quantitative comparison between experimental and Monte Carlo simulation results for the epitaxial growth of Cu/Cu(001) in the submonolayer regime is presented. The simulations take into account a complete set of hopping processes whose activation energies are derived from semi-empirical calculations using the embedded-atom method. The island separation is measured as a function of the incoming flux and the temperature. A good quantitative agreement between the experiment and simulation is found for the island separation, the activation energies for the dominant processes, and the exponents that characterize the growth. The simulation results are then analyzed at lower coverages, which are not accessible experimentally, providing good agreement with theoretical predictions as well.Comment: Latex document. 7 pages. 3 embedded figures in separate PS files. One bbl fil

Novel growth of Ag islands on Si(111): Plateaus with singular height

Growth and transport properties of thin Ag films on Si(lll) are investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and in situ resistivity measurements. At low coverage, the Ag adatoms form isolated islands with a strongly preferred height and flat tops, rather than commonly observed pyramids. Such plateaus increase their lateral extent with coverage without changing height, forming a percolated network with sharply reduced resistivity above a critical coverage. This behavior suggests how the quantized electrons confined in the Ag islands could influence the growth, and may provide a unique pathway to prepare nanometer-scale structures with intriguing mesoscopic properties