Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:45:16.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Critical Cluster Size: Island Morphology and Size Distribution in Submonolayer Epitaxial Growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

Jacques G. Amar
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta GA 30322
Fereydoon Family
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta GA 30322
Get access

Abstract

The island-size distribution scaling function fi (u) corresponding to submonolayer epitaxial growth with critical island size i is studied via kinetic Monte Carlo simulations for i = 0, 1, 2, and 3. An analytic form for fi (u) based on a conjecture for the small-u behavior is also presented. For i = 1, the scaled island-size distribution is found to depend on island morphology. In particular, for fractal islands with i = 1 there is excellent agreement with our analytical form as well as with experiments on low temperature Fe/Fe(100) deposition. However, for compact islands with i = 1, the scaled distribution is found to deviate slightly at small u. We also find excellent agreement between our analytical form, simulations, and experiment for i =- 2 and i = 3. Good agreement between our simulation results for i = 0 and recent experiments on Fe/Cu(100) deposition is also found. Results for the scaling of the island-density as well as crossover scaling forms for the transition from i = 1 to i = 2 and from i = 1 to i = 3 are also presented and used to determine the one-bond activation energy and critical island size transition temperature for Fe/Fe(100). The morphology of fractal islands for i = 2 is also studied and compared with experiments on Au/Ru(0001).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Venables, J.A., Philos. Mag. 27, 697 (1973). J. A. Venables, G.D. Spiller, and M. Hanbucken, Rep. Prog. Phys. 47, 399 (1984).Google Scholar
2. Stoyanov, S. and Kashchiev, D., in Current Topics in Materials Science, edited by Kaldis, E. (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1981), Vol. 7, pp. 69141.Google Scholar
3. Family, F. and Meakin, P., Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 428 (1988); Phys. Rev. A 40, 3836 (1989).Google Scholar
4. Bartelt, M.C. and Evans, J.W., Phys. Rev. B 46, 12675 (1992).Google Scholar
5. Amar, J.G., Family, F., amd Lam, P.-M., in Mechanisms of Thin Film Evolution, MRS Symposia Proceedings No. 317 (Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, 1994), p. 167; Phys. Rev. B 50, 8781 (1994).Google Scholar
6. Smoluchowski, M. von, Z. Phys. Chem. 17, 557 (1916).; 92, 129 (1917).Google Scholar
7. Walton, D., Rhodin, T.N., and Rollins, R.W., J. Chem. Phys. 38, 2698 (1961).Google Scholar
8. Evans, J.W. and Bartelt, M.C., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 12, 1800 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Family, F. and Amar, J.G., Mat. Sci. and Eng. B (Solid State Mat.), (to be published, 1994).Google Scholar
10. Amar, J.G. and Family, F., submitted to Physical Review Letters.Google Scholar
11. Chambliss, D.D. and Johnson, K.E., Phys. Rev. B 50, 5012 (1994).Google Scholar
12. Stroscio, J.A. and Pierce, D.T., Phys. Rev. B 49, 8522 (1994).Google Scholar
13. Bartelt, M.C. and Evans, J.W., Surf. Sci. 298, 421 (1993).Google Scholar
14. Amar, J.G. and Family, F., submitted to Physical Review B.Google Scholar
15. Zhang, Z., Chen, X., and Lagally, M.G., Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1829 (1994).Google Scholar
16. Hwang, R.Q., Schroder, J., Gunther, C., and Behm, R.J., Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 3279 (1991); R.Q. Hwang and R.J. Behm, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 10, 256 (1992).Google Scholar
17. Ratsch, C., Zangwill, A., Smilauer, P., and Vvedensky, D.D., Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 3194 (1994).Google Scholar
18. Stroscio, J.A., Pierce, D.T., and Dragoset, R.A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3615 (1993).Google Scholar