title: Attractive migration and coalescence: a significant process in the coarsening of TiSi2 islands on the Si(111) surface.
abstract: The dynamics and coarsening of TiSi2 islands on Si(111) surfaces are studied in real time with photoelectron emission microscopy. A significant fraction of events are observed in which nearby islands move attractively toward each other and subsequently coalesce. It is proposed that attractive island migration is due to the growth-decay flow of the island edges driven by a nonuniform surface concentration around the islands. The local surface concentration is induced by the neighboring islands. This coarsening mechanism should significantly affect the evolution of the island distribution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8202, USA.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeman
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ade
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nemanich