Molecular beam epitaxial growth, in 2-dimensional island mode, on vicinal surfaces was investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that, at low substrate temperatures, the width of the nucleation-free area around an atomic step was related to the sixth root of the surface diffusivity, as reported elsewhere. At higher temperatures, the width was proportional to the critical terrace width within which no nucleation occurred. It was found that these dependences were caused by differences in 2-dimensional island shape.

H.Nakahara, M.Ichikawa, S.Stoyanov: Surface Science, 1995, 329, 115-20