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On the role of step-flow advection during electromigration-induced step bunching

Matthieu Dufay·Thomas Frisch·Jean-Marc Debierre
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Abstract

We propose a one-dimensional model based on the Burton-Cabrera-Frank equations to describe the electromigration-induced step bunching instability on vicinal surfaces. The step drift resulting from atomic evaporation and/or deposition is explicitly included in our model. A linear stability analysis reveals several stability inversions as the evaporation rate varies, while a deposition flux is shown to have a stabilizing effect.

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Matthieu Dufay, Thomas Frisch, Jean-Marc Debierre. 2007-03-28. On the role of step-flow advection during electromigration-induced step bunching. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.75.241304

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