Multi-facets of kinetic roughening of interfaces

Abstract

Abstract In this review, the authors are going to explore the intriguing aspects of kinetic roughening of interfaces. Interface roughness dynamics connected with various physical processes have been studied through novel microscopic models in connection with experiments. The statistical properties of such rough interfaces appearing in wide range of physical systems are observed to belong to different universality classes characterized by the scaling exponents. With the advancement of characterization techniques, the scaling exponents of thin-film surface (or the morphological evolution of amorphous surfaces eroded by ion bombardment) are easily computed even in situ during the growing (erosion) conditions. The relevant key physical parameters during the dynamics crucially control the overall scaling behaviour as well as the scaling exponents. The non-universal nature of scaling exponents is emphasized on the variations of the physical parameters in experimental studies and also in theoretical models. Overall, this review containing both theoretical and experimental results will unfold some novel features of surface morphology and its evolution and shed important directions to build an appropriate theoretical framework to explain the observations in systematic and consistent experiments.