Open AccessKinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the epitaxial growth mechanism on the vicinal surface
Author(s) -
Huibing Mao,
Weiping Jing,
Jianguo Yu,
Jiqing Wang,
Wang Li,
Nianwei Dai
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.55.5435
Subject(s) - vicinal , nucleation , kinetic monte carlo , epitaxy , materials science , monte carlo method , surface (topology) , condensed matter physics , kinetic energy , nanotechnology , physics , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , geometry , statistics , layer (electronics)
In this paper the epitaxial growth mechanism on vicinal GaAs(001) surface is studied using the kinetic Monte Carlo simulation method. The Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier has great influence on the growth mechanism of the vicinal surface. The simulation results show that the downward movement to a lower step of the adatoms can be inhibited by Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier at low temperature, while the adatoms can move to the lower step at high temperature. At the beginning of growth, the adatoms are almost distributed uniformly on the steps. When the surface coverage reaches to certain value, the step nucleation begins. Meanwhile, the adatoms begin to accumulate at the upper step because of the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier. If there were no Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier, the adatoms at the upper step could be depleted completely. The Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier has great influence on the growth mode of the vicinal surface, and it will increase the temperature for onset of the step growth mode.