# Effects of a kinetic barrier on limited-mobility interface growth models

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how a kinetic barrier affects interface growth models, showing it induces instability and mound formation, with growth characterized by uncorrelated structures and a growth exponent of 1/2.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that a kinetic barrier can cause growth instability and mound formation in limited-mobility models through large-scale simulations.

## Key findings

- Kinetic barrier induces growth instability and mound formation.
- Surface length saturates quickly, indicating uncorrelated growth.
- Growth exponent is approximately 1/2, confirming uncorrelated surface evolution.

## Abstract

The role played by a kinetic barrier originated by out-of-plane step edge diffusion, introduced in [Leal \textit{et al.}, \href{https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/23/29/292201}{J. Phys. Condens. Matter \textbf{23}, 292201 (2011)}], is investigated in the Wolf-Villain and Das Sarma-Tamborenea models with short range diffusion. Using large-scale simulations, we observed that this barrier is sufficient to produce growth instability, forming quasiregular mounds in one and two dimensions. The characteristic surface length saturates quickly indicating a uncorrelated growth of the 3d structures, which is also confirmed by a growth exponent $\beta=1/2$. The out-of-plane particle current provides a large reduction of the downward flux enhancing, consequently, the net upward diffusion and formation of 3d self-arranged structures.