The dynamics of island nucleation and growth - beyond mean-field theory

Mulheran, P.A. (2004) The dynamics of island nucleation and growth - beyond mean-field theory. EPL: A Letters Journal Exploring the Frontiers of Physics, 65 (3). pp. 379-385. ISSN 0295-5075 (https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-10098-x)

[thumbnail of strathprints008493]
Preview
Text. Filename: strathprints008493.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript

Download (184kB)| Preview

Abstract

Fully deterministic calculations of the dynamics of island nucleation and growth during thin-film deposition are presented, using a capture zone model that transcends the classical mean-field approximation. Nucleation rates for various critical island sizes i = 0, 1, 2 are accurately calculated from the time-dependent monomer density within the capture zones. The deterministic evolution of the Joint Probability Distribution (JPD) of island and capture zone size is then calculated. The JPDs are found to converge rapidly to approximately scale-invariant forms that are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulation data.