Spiral growth and step edge barriers

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Jan 25;100(3):035506. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.035506. Epub 2008 Jan 24.

Abstract

The growth of spiral mounds containing a screw dislocation is compared to the growth of wedding cakes by two-dimensional nucleation. Using phase field simulations and homoepitaxial growth experiments on the Pt(111) surface we show that both structures attain the same large scale shape when a significant step-edge barrier suppresses interlayer transport. The higher vertical growth rate of the spiral mounds on Pt(111) reflects the different incorporation mechanisms for atoms in the top region and can be formally represented by an enhanced apparent step-edge barrier.