title: Single-phase-field model of stepped surfaces.
abstract: We formulate a phase-field description of step dynamics on vicinal surfaces that makes use of a single dynamical field, at variance with previous analogous works in which two coupled fields are employed, namely, a phase-field proper plus the physical adatom concentration. Within an asymptotic sharp interface limit, our formulation is shown to retrieve the standard Burton-Cabrera-Frank model in the general case of asymmetric attachment coefficients (Ehrlich-Schwoebel effect). We confirm our analytical results by means of numerical simulations of our phase-field model. Our present formulation seems particularly well adapted to generalization when additional physical fields are required.
authors.affiliation: Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC) and Grupo de Dinámica No Lineal (DNL), Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería (ICAI), Universidad Pontificia Comillas, E-28015 Madrid, Spain. marioc@upcomillas.es
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernández-Machado
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cuerno