Capture numbers and islands size distributions in models of submonolayer surface growth

The capture numbers entering the rate equations (RE) for submonolayer film growth are determined from extensive kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations for simple representative growth models yielding point, compact, and fractal island morphologies. The full dependence of the capture numbers on island size, and on both the coverage and the D/F ratio between the adatom diffusion coefficient D and deposition rate F is determined. Based on this information, the RE are solved to give the RE island size distribution (RE-ISD). The RE-ISDs are shown to agree well with the corresponding KMC-ISDs for all island morphologies. For compact morphologies, however, this agreement is only present for coverages smaller than about 5% due to a significantly increased coalescence rate compared to fractal morphologies. As found earlier, the scaled KMC-ISDs as a function of scaled island size approach, for fixed coverage, a limiting curve for D/F going to infinity. Our findings provide evidence that the limiting curve is independent of the coverage for point islands, while the results for compact and fractal island morphologies indicate a dependence on the coverage.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Spiral Growth and Step Edge Barriers

The growth of spiral mounds containing a screw dislocation is compared to the growth of wedding cakes by two-dimensional nucleation. Using phase field simulations and homoepitaxial growth experiments on the Pt(111) surface we show that both structures attain the same characteristic large scale shape when a significant step edge barrier suppresses interlayer transport. The higher vertical growth rate observed for the spiral mounds on Pt(111) reflects the different incorporation mechanisms for atoms in the top region and can be formally represented by an enhanced apparent step edge barrier.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, partly in colo

Re-entrant Layer-by-Layer Etching of GaAs(001)

We report the first observation of re-entrant layer-by-layer etching based on {\it in situ\/} reflection high-energy electron-diffraction measurements. With AsBr$_3$ used to etch GaAs(001), sustained specular-beam intensity oscillations are seen at high substrate temperatures, a decaying intensity with no oscillations at intermediate temperatures, but oscillations reappearing at still lower temperatures. Simulations of an atomistic model for the etching kinetics reproduce the temperature ranges of these three regimes and support an interpretation of the origin of this phenomenon as the site-selectivity of the etching process combined with activation barriers to interlayer adatom migration.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX 3.0. Physical Review Letters, in press

К вопросу состава гранатов во вмещающих породах и рудах месторождения Эльдорадо

На основании изучения гранатов во вмещающих породах и рудах месторождения Эльдорадо сделан вывод о том, что формирование его происходило на фоне падающих температур и давлений

Island size distributions in submonolayer growth: successful prediction by mean field theory with coverage dependent capture numbers

We show that mean-field rate equations for submonolayer growth can successfully predict island size distributions in the pre-coalescence regime if the full dependence of capture numbers on both the island size and the coverage is taken into account. This is demonstrated by extensive Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations for a growth kinetics with hit and stick aggregation. A detailed analysis of the capture numbers reveals a nonlinear dependence on the island size for small islands. This nonlinearity turns out to be crucial for the successful prediction of the island size distribution and renders an analytical treatment based on a continuum limit of the mean-field rate equations difficult.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figue

Spiral Growth and Step Edge Barriers

The growth of spiral mounds containing a screw dislocation is compared to the growth of wedding cakes by two-dimensional nucleation. Using phase field simulations and homoepitaxial growth experiments on the Pt(111) surface we show that both structures attain the same characteristic large scale shape when a significant step edge barrier suppresses interlayer transport. The higher vertical growth rate observed for the spiral mounds on Pt(111) reflects the different incorporation mechanisms for atoms in the top region and can be formally represented by an enhanced apparent step edge barrier.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, partly in colo