Surfactant-Mediated Growth of Nonequilibrium Interfaces

TL;DR

This paper introduces a coupled equation model to describe how surfactants influence the nonequilibrium growth and roughening of epitaxial interfaces, potentially leading to a flat surface phase.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical framework for understanding surfactant effects on interface growth, including the possibility of a flat surface phase.

Findings

Surfactants can suppress islanding in epitaxial growth.

The model predicts a phase with negative surface roughness.

Surfactant-driven phase transitions in interface morphology.

Abstract

A number of recent experiments have showed that surfactants can modify the growth mode of an epitaxial film, suppressing islanding and promoting layer-by-layer growth. Here I introduce a set of coupled equations to describe the nonequilibrium roughening of an interface covered with a thin surfactant layer. The surfactant may drive the system into a novel phase, in which the surface roughness is negative, corresponding to a flat surface.