Pulsed laser deposition-type growth kinetics: control by moderate-sized mobile clusters

Abstract

The nonequilibrium growth kinetics of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is investigated using a realistic set of rate equations. Our results indicate that growth from a supersaturated pulsed flux of kinetically hyperthermal species is ruled by the kinetics of moderate-sized mobile clusters. On vicinal surfaces (e.g., oxide surfaces), whose high corrugations hinder large-scale diffusions at the moderate temperatures commonly used in PLD, direct impingement and transient mobility play a key role in the nucleation of such mobile clusters. Based on these insights, we propose a new description of the growth kinetics of PLD that should prove valuable in the development of oxide-based nanoscale devices.