Orientation Dependence of Step Stiffness: Failure of SOS and Ising Models to Describe Experimental Data

Abstract

We have investigated the step stiffness on Cu(001) surfaces as a function of step orientation by two independent methods at several temperatures near 300 K. Both sets of data agree well and show a substantial dependence of the stiffness on the angle of orientation. With the exception of steps oriented along $<110>$, the experimental stiffness is significantly larger than the stiffness calculated within the solid-on-solid (SOS) model and the Ising-model, even if next nearest-neighbor interactions are taken into account. Our results have considerable consequences for the understanding and for the theoretical modeling of equilibrium and growth phenomena, such as step meandering instabilities.

5 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Nonlinear evolution of step meander during growth of a vicinal surface with no desorption
• A contiuum model for low temperature relaxation of crystal steps
• Competing mechanisms for step meandering in unstable growth
• Asymptotic step profiles from a nonlinear growth equation for vicinal surfaces

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