Dynamics of Crystal Surfaces and Interfaces
Edited by P. M. Duxbury and Pence and T. J. Pence, Fundamental
Materials Research, Plenum Press, New York, p. 199 (1997).
Two-dimensional models for step dynamics
John D. Weeks, Da-Jiang Liu, and Hyeong-Chai Jeong
Abstract
In this paper we review some of our recent work on the dynamics of step
bunching and faceting on vicinal surfaces below the roughening
temperature. We concentrate on several cases where interesting two
dimensional (2D) step patterns form as a result of kinetic processes and
argue that they can be understood from a unified point of view. In
particular, we discuss two cases of recent experimental and theoretical
interest: current-induced step bunching on Si(111) surfaces and
reconstruction-induced faceting as seen a number of systems, including the
O/Ag(110) and Si(111) surfaces. In both cases interesting 2D step patterns
can arise from the competition between a driving force that promotes step
bunching, and the effects of step repulsions, which tend to keep steps
uniformly spaced.
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