Article
Factors Mediating Smoothness in Epitaxial Thin-Film Growth
Physical Review B
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-1991
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.43.3897
Abstract
Surface-sensitive diffraction techniques are often used to monitor the smoothness of epitaxial thin films during growth, i.e., the propensity for layer-by-layer growth. Interpretation of such data requires an understanding of the relative importance of various factors that mediate smoothness. These include the adsorption-site geometry, the dynamics of atoms during deposition, and possible transient mobility following deposition, as well as thermal diffusion. Here we present a systematic study of the first three factors, emphasizing the interplay between geometry and dynamics. This is achieved by a comparison of several ‘‘low-temperature’’ far-from-equilibrium growth models where adsorption occurs at on-top sites, bridge sites, or threefold or fourfold hollow sites. Film structure is elucidated through determination of the interface width, density of steps and adsorption sites, the kinematic Bragg intensity, and short-range-order parameters. Exact analysis of nonasymptotic properties of these statistical-mechanical models is in general impossible, and so most results presented are from Monte Carlo simulation.
Copyright Owner
American Physical Society
Copyright Date
1991
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
James W. Evans. "Factors Mediating Smoothness in Epitaxial Thin-Film Growth" Physical Review B Vol. 43 Iss. 5 (1991) p. 3897 - 3906 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/james-evans/144/
This article is published as Evans, J. W. "Factors mediating smoothness in epitaxial thin-film growth." Physical Review B 43, no. 5 (1991): 3897, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.43.3897. Posted with permission.