Island Shape-Induced Transition from 2D to 3D Growth for Pt/Pt(111)

We present a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the growth of Pt on Pt(111) capable of describing the experimentally observed temperature dependence of the island shapes and the growth mode. We show that the transition from a 2D growth mode at low temperatures to a 3D mode at higher temperatures is closely related to the disappearance of kink sites and the appearance of the triangular islands observed in the 3D growth regime.