Abstract
We revisit the step bunching instability without recourse to the quasistatic approximation and show that the stability diagrams are significantly altered, even in the low-deposition regime where it was thought sufficient. In particular, steps are unstable against bunching for attachment-detachment limited growth. By accounting for the dynamics and chemical effects, we can explain the onset of step bunching in and GaAs(001) without resort to the inverse Schwoebel barrier or step-edge diffusion. Further, the size-scaling analysis of step-bunch growth, as induced by these two combined effects, agrees with the bunching regime observed at in .
- Received 22 November 2018
- Revised 23 September 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.036101
© 2020 American Physical Society