The transition from a regular, to a bunched, step-structure on (111) – as induced by a direct current - was studied. A terrace-adatom step-kink model was used, in which the mass transport of Si adatoms was explicitly taken into account. The step structure transformation dynamics were calculated by dynamic Monte Carlo simulation within the terrace-adatom step-kink model, and the adatom flux was analyzed by using the generalized Burton-Cabrera-Frank theory. Step-bunching was generated by the step-down directed force in capture-limited regime, and by the step-up directed force in the diffusion-limited regime. For a regular step structure in the diffusion-limited regime, an in-phase wandering of steps was induced by the step-down force.

Novel Transition Mechanism of Surface Electromigration-Induced Step Structure on Vicinal Si(111) Surfaces. N.Suga, J.Kimpara, N.J.Wu, H.Yasunaga, A.Natori: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics - 1, 2000, 39[7B], 4412-6