Abstract
The temperature dependent morphology transitions of epitaxial submonolayers grown on fcc metal (110) surfaces are studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation and rate-equation analysis. For a suitable system, there exists a complete morphology evolution: from small anisotropic clusters with preferential orientation in the [001] direction to anisotropic islands elongated to the [11¯0] channel at low temperatures, then to nearly one-dimensional (1D) monoatomic chains at intermediate temperatures, and finally to two-dimensional (2D) islands at high temperatures. The first transition in island orientation is controlled by the anisotropy in terrace diffusion and the strength of cross-channel bonding. The second transition of 1D chain to 2D island can be generated by the anisotropy in detachment for fully reversible aggregation in the presence of cross-channel atomic interaction or by the strong anisotropy in corner rounding for aggregation without detachment. However, using an approximation of bond-breaking model to the activation energies of adatom hopping, the anisotropic detachment or anisotropic corner rounding is actually related to the anisotropy in bonding. Based on the simulated results, we also derive general conditions for the occurrences of these transitions under our simulation conditions.
Published Version
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