Driving force dependence of the height of a faceted macrostep in non-equilibrium steady-state crystal growth

Abstract

Abstract In order to understand the dynamics of the self-organized macrosteps, the vicinal surface with faceted macrosteps is studied by the Monte Carlo method based on a microscopic lattice model, the restricted solid-on-solid model with point-contact-type step-step attraction (p-RSOS model). We focus on the dynamical effects caused by the change of the surface roughness or the change of the kink density which are masked by the effect of the surface and volume diffusion of the crystal atoms in the ambient phase. Contrast to the step-bunching in the diffusion-limited cases, the height of the faceted macrostep decreases as the driving force for the crystal growth increases.