Pimpinelli, Alberto; Villain, Jacques; Wolf, Dietrich:
Fractal terraces in MBE growth
In: Journal de Physique I - General Physics, Statistical Physics, Condensed Matter, Cross-Disciplinary Physics, Vol. 3 (1993), No. 2, pp. 447 - 457
1993article/chapter in journal
Physics (incl. Astronomy)
Title:
Fractal terraces in MBE growth
Author:
Pimpinelli, Alberto;Villain, Jacques;Wolf, DietrichUDE
GND
1273280393
LSF ID
1114
Other
connected with university
Year of publication:
1993

Abstract:

MBE growth on high symmetry surfaces depends to some extent on the shape of the terraces which form the embryos of each new atomic layer. The conditions for formation of compact or fractal terraces are discussed in two limits: large terraces, to which a continuous description applies, and small terraces, which require that the discrete nature of matter be taken into account. In both cases it is found that terraces are fractal if and only if diffusion of adatoms along steps is much slower than on the flat surface at the same temperature. Precise conditions are given which should be accessible to experiment.