Roughening and Preroughening of Diamond-Cubic {l_brace}111{r_brace} Surfaces

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.258· OSTI ID:439063

Woodraska, D L; Jaszczak, J A ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931 (United States)

A solid-on-solid model for {l_brace}111{r_brace} surfaces of diamond-cubic materials that correctly takes into account the diamond-cubic crystal structure has been developed for Monte Carlo simulation. In addition to a roughening transition at temperature T{sub R}, a distinct preroughening transition at T{sub PR}{approx}0.43T{sub R} is indicated by divergences in the surface specific heat and order-parameter susceptibility. Preroughening appears to arise naturally in our nearest-neighbor bond model from the entropic freedom available in the nontrivial crystal structure. Preroughening is shown to dramatically lower the nucleation barrier for growth and etching at low driving forces. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 439063
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 78; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CRYSTAL MODELS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DIAMONDS
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
MONTE CARLO METHOD
ORDER PARAMETERS
ROUGHNESS
SPECIFIC HEAT
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE