Epitaxial growth under oblique incidence

TL;DR

This paper presents a continuum model for homoepitaxial growth at oblique angles, highlighting the interplay of shadowing and Ehrlich-Schwoebel effects, and analyzing surface morphology evolution through numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel continuum model incorporating shadowing and ES effects, revealing distinct growth phases and surface transition dynamics.

Findings

Different growth phases separated by a crossover time

Development of deep grooves before shadowing dominates

Oblique growth accelerates surface coarsening with a specific critical exponent

Abstract

A continuum one dimensional model of homoepitaxial growth under oblique incidence is investigated. We carried out numerical integration of a continuum equation incorporating a shadowing search algorithm. The interplay between the Ehrlich-Schwoebel (ES) effect and shadowing is clearly highlighted. It was found that different growth phases are separated by a well defined crossover time after which the ES and shadowing are the dominating mechanisms. Also, the model identified the existence of a transition period where deep grooves develop on the surface before the shadowing regime is fully developed. We found that growth under oblique angles accelerates the coarsening of mounds on the surface and we determined the corresponding critical exponent.