Step Repulsion Mediates Wandering on a Si(001) Vicinal Face

Abstract

With a Si(001) vicinal surface in mind, we study step wandering instability on a vicinal surface with an anisotropic surface diffusion whose orientation dependence alternates on each consecutive terrace. In a conserved system step wandering takes place with step-up adatom drift. Repulsive interaction between steps is found indispensable for the instability. Monte Carlo simulation with a strong repulsive step interaction confirms the result of linear stability analysis, and further shows that in-phase step wandering produces straight grooves. Grooves widen as their amplitudes increase in proportion to the square root of time.

4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX4

References in corpus (1)

• Nonlinear evolution of step meander during growth of a vicinal surface with no desorption

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Effect of step stiffness and diffusion anisotropy on the meandering of a growing vicinal surface
• Kinetic step bunching during surface growth
• Electromigration-Induced Step Meandering on Vicinal Surfaces: Nonlinear Evolution Equation
• Step Bunching with Alternation of Structural Parameters
• Drift-Induced Step Instabilities Due to the Gap in the Diffusion Coefficient
• Interacting Steps With Finite-Range Interactions: Analytical Approximation and Numerical Results