No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2012
Stepped Si(100) surfaces exhibit alternating stiff SA and meandering SB steps, and thus constitute a so-called AB-vicinal surface. Both growth by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), and erosion by ion sputtering or chemical etching, induce step pairing, although different factors contribute. In addition, more complex pattern formation often occurs during step train motion. We synthesize recent developments in modeling of these processes ranging from ab-initio electronic structure approaches for key surface energetics, to atomistic lattice-gas modeling, to coarse-grained sharp-interface (front-tracking) and smeared-interface (phase-field) step dynamics approaches. We briefly describe development of new formalisms related to coarse-grained approaches, as well as selected results for step pairing.