Subsurface diffusion in crystals and effect of surface permeability on the atomic step motion

Abstract

Atomic mechanism of the bulk and surface point defect generation and annihilation on surface sinks is considered theoretically on the base of the Burton, Cabrera and Frank model. We show that the creation and annihilation of self-interstitials and vacancies at crystal surfaces can be described by introducing a diffusive layer of the bulk point defects adsorbed just below the surface. The effect of the surface permeability on the atomic step rate advance is analyzed. We conclude that the surface permeability, as well as the supersaturation of point defects in both gas and bulk phases, control the dynamic of the crystal surface morphology.