The influence of atom confinement during the growth process on vicinal surfaces with different terrace widths was studied. The behavior of the mean island density n and size s was analyzed in a general way as a function of the flux F over diffusion D1 ratio and terrace width using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. It was shown that the exponent in the scaling law n (F D1) α changed from α = 1/3 for an infinite terrace to α = 1 in the case of a finite terrace when the flux was lowered. In the same condition, the island size was limited by confinement, leading to a critical value which depended on the terrace width, only. Very simple rate equations were shown to be able to quantitatively explain, through three parameters determined independently, the simulation results at small deposition flux, whatever the description of the islands (point, compact, or fractal). Application of these results to a physical case Ag Pt led to an excellent agreement with more complete simulations based on an atomic description of the growth mechanisms.

First Stages of Epitaxial Growth in the Presence of an Extended Defect: Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations versus Rate Equation Study on a Vicinal Surface. F.Dumont, A.Ramadan, F.Picaud, C.Ramseyer, C.Girardet: Physical Review B, 2007, 76[15], 155419