title: Critical epinucleation on reconstructured surfaces and first-principle calculation of homonucleation on Si(100).
abstract: We introduce the concept of "critical epinucleation to distinguish nucleation on surfaces with and without reconstruction. On a reconstructed surface, the critical classical nucleus is stable against dissociation, but may not yet break the underlying surface reconstruction. Consequently, there must exist a "critical epinucleus" that is not only stable but also has established the epiconfiguration by unreconstructing the underlying substrate. We illustrate this concept by first-principle calculation of homonucleation on reconstructed Si(001) surface where the critical epinucleus consists of six adatoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.
authors.forename: Raj Ganesh S
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Pala
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu