A kinetically driven growth mechanism: AlF3 over Cu(100)

GÓMEZ L.; MARTÍN, V; GARCÉS, J.; FERRON, J.

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS - D (APPLIED PHYSICS)

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014 vol. 47 p. 495305 - 495310

0022-3727

  A new diffusion model based on kinematic properties and supported by Metropolis MonteCarlo free energy minimization and density functional theory calculations is proposed inthis work. This new mechanism breaks the isotropic features of random adatom diffusionover a single crystal surface, not only about the main directions but also about the sense ofmovement. The present model allows us to understand all of the anomalous growing featurescharacterizing the behaviour of an insulator film, such as aluminum fluoride, over a metallicCu(1 0 0) single crystal surface. The growth process of this system is characterized by severalnon-fully understood features, including a large diffusion coefficient, sticking at both sidesof steps, and island atomistic arrangement along special directions. Although we focus ouranalysis on the AlF3/Cu(1 0 0) system, our conclusions may be extended to the diffusion ofother complex molecules over different surfaces.