Step bunching with both directions of the current: Vicinal W(110) surfaces versus atomistic-scale model

Olzat Toktarbaiuly, Victor Usov, Cormac Ó Coileáin, Katarzyna Siewierska, Sergey Krasnikov, Emma Norton, Sergey I. Bozhko, Valery N. Semenov, Alexander N. Chaika, Barry E. Murphy, Olaf Lübben, Filip Krzyżewski, Magdalena A. Załuska-Kotur, Anna Krasteva, Hristina Popova, Vesselin Tonchev, and Igor V. Shvets
Phys. Rev. B 97, 035436 – Published 25 January 2018
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  • INTRODUCTION
  • STEP BUNCHING ON W(110) SURFACE
  • THE MODEL
  • DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • References

    Abstract

    We report the observation of bunching of monoatomic steps on vicinal W(110) surfaces induced by step-up or step-down currents across the steps. Measurements reveal that the size-scaling exponent γ, connecting the maximal slope of a bunch with its height, differs depending on the current direction. We provide a numerical perspective by using an atomistic-scale model with a conserved surface flux to mimic experimental conditions, and also show that there is an interval of parameters in which the vicinal surface is unstable against step bunching for both directions of the adatom drift.

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    • Received 7 October 2017
    • Revised 14 December 2017

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.035436

    ©2018 American Physical Society

    Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

    1. Research Areas
    DiffusionSurface & interfacial phenomenaSurface diffusion
    1. Physical Systems
    Single crystal materials
    1. Techniques
    Atomic force microscopyMonte Carlo methods
    Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsNonlinear Dynamics

    Authors & Affiliations

    Olzat Toktarbaiuly1,2, Victor Usov1, Cormac Ó Coileáin1, Katarzyna Siewierska1, Sergey Krasnikov1, Emma Norton1, Sergey I. Bozhko1,3, Valery N. Semenov1,3, Alexander N. Chaika1,3, Barry E. Murphy1, Olaf Lübben1, Filip Krzyżewski4, Magdalena A. Załuska-Kotur4, Anna Krasteva5, Hristina Popova6, Vesselin Tonchev4,7,*, and Igor V. Shvets1

    • 1Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
    • 2Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
    • 3Institute of Solid State Physics RAS, Chernogolovka, Moscow district 142432, Russian Federation
    • 4Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
    • 5Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
    • 6Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria,
    • 7Faculty of Physics, Sofia University, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria

    • *Corresponding author: tonchev@phys.uni-sofia.bg

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    Issue

    Vol. 97, Iss. 3 — 15 January 2018

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