title: Persistent step-flow growth of strained films on vicinal substrates.
abstract: We propose a model of persistent step flow, emphasizing dominant kinetic processes and strain effects. Within this model, we construct a morphological phase diagram, delineating a regime of step flow from regimes of step bunching and island formation. In particular, we predict the existence of concurrent step bunching and island formation, a new growth mode that competes with step flow for phase space, and show that the deposition flux and temperature must be chosen within a window in order to achieve persistent step flow. The model rationalizes the diverse growth modes observed in pulsed laser deposition of SrRuO3 on SrTiO3.
authors.affiliation: Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Ho Nyung
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Hans M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.forename: Douglas H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lowndes
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang