title: Absolute TiN(111) step energies from analysis of anisotropic island shape fluctuations.
abstract: In situ high-temperature (1165-1248 K) scanning tunneling microscopy was used to measure fluctuations around the equilibrium shape of two-dimensional vacancy islands on TiN(111) terraces. From the equilibrium shape, the ratio of the two <110> step energies was found to be 0.72 +/- 0.02. Combining this with the results of an exact approach for analysis of shape fluctuations, applicable to highly anisotropic islands, we obtain absolute values for step energies and step stiffnesses as a function of orientation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodambaka
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Petrova
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Khare
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Greene