VELOCITY FUNCTION MODELS OF STEP DYNAMICS: THEORY OF CURRENT-INDUCED STEP BUNCHING ONSi(111)SURFACES

Da-Jiang Liu, John D. Weeks and Daniel Kandel
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Da-Jiang Liu: Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
John D. Weeks: Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA;
Daniel Kandel: Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Surface Review and Letters (SRL), 1997, vol. 04, issue 01, 107-113

Abstract: We study two-dimensional models of step flow in which the local velocity of a step is expressed as a function of its neighboring terrace widths and the local curvature of the step. Repulsive step interactions modify the velocity functions at short distances and prevent step crossing. When the velocity of a step depends mainly on the width of the terrace behind, the resulting asymmetry in the velocity functions can make the uniform step train unstable towards step bunching. Typically, during growth or evaporation, the surface will develop characteristic patterns where slowly moving fairly straight bunches coexist with fast-moving, strongly bent single steps that cross from one bunch to another. The bunching and debunching processes happen simultaneously. These general features have been seen in recent experiments on the current-induced step bunching ofSi(111)surfaces. The same qualitative behavior persists in a wide class of microscopic models that require a much more complicated description.

Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1142/S0218625X97000134

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