Complex behavior in a simple system: Low-temperature Ag/Ag(100) growth revisited

Abstract

The experimentally observed nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the surface roughness in Ag/Ag(100) growth over the temperature range $T=55--180\text{ }\text{K}$ is examined. In general, we find that the surface roughness depends sensitively on a competition between a variety of low-barrier processes including downward funneling of depositing atoms, island relaxation via edge zipping and edge diffusion, atom attraction, and concerted interlayer diffusion at kinks. The short-range attraction of depositing atoms to microprotrusions also plays a crucial role in determining the surface roughness, especially at low temperature. By taking these processes into account in our simulations, good agreement with experiment is obtained over the entire temperature range.