Dynamic phase transitions in electromigration-induced step bunching
arXiv:cond-mat/0602216 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.73.235430
Abstract
Electromigration-induced step bunching in the presence of sublimation or deposition is studied theoretically in the attachment-limited regime. We predict a phase transition as a function of the relative strength of kinetic asymmetry and step drift. For weak asymmetry the number of steps between bunches grows logarithmically with bunch size, whereas for strong asymmetry at most a single step crosses between two bunches. In the latter phase the emission and absorption of steps is a collective process which sets in only above a critical bunch size and/or step interaction strength.
4 pages, 4 figures
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Cited by in corpus (7)
- Step bunching process induced by the flow of steps at the sublimated crystal surface
- On the role of step-flow advection during electromigration-induced step bunching
- Impurity-induced step interactions: a kinetic Monte-Carlo study
- Instabilities at vicinal crystal surfaces - competition between the electromigration of the adatoms and the kinetic memory effect
- Anti-Coarsening and Complex Dynamics of Step Bunches on Vicinal Surfaces during Sublimation
- Bunch width versus macrostep height: A quantitative study of the effects of step-step repulsion
- Non-conserved dynamics of steps on vicinal surfaces during electromigration-induced step bunching