Initial stages of thin film growth in the presence of island-edge barriers
Abstract
A model of submonolayer thin film growth is studied, where the attachment of atoms to island edges is hindered by an energy barrier. A novel behavior of the density of islands, Ns, is predicted as a function of flux F and temperature T. For example, Ns scales as FX with X=2i*/(i*+3), where i* is the critical island size, in contrast with the standard result X=i*/(i*+2). The theory is applicable to surfactant mediated growth and chemical vapor deposition. It explains recent experiments, which are inconsistent with the standard theory.
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