Helium Atom Beam Scattering as a Probe for the Kinetics on Singular and Vicinal Surfaces : Fundamental Aspects of Ordering, Growth and Ablation

Abstract

Helium Atom Beam Scattering (HAS) allows for a detailed structural characterization of growth and ablation processes in situ, on an angstrom scale, and in real time. Its application to the growth, ablation and ordering of thin Cu films on singular and vicinal Cu templates is briefly reviewed. The investigation of such homoepitaxial systems allows to address the kinetic aspect of growth and ablation in its pure form. It appears this way that in both processes an asymmetry in the horizontal and vertical mobility of atoms, associated with the presence of an excess energy barrier to diffusion at step edges, plays a key role in the formation of the observed selforganized patterned structures on the nanometerscale.