Simulation of recovery kinetics in Si(001) molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

We present computer simulations of growth interruption in Si(001) molecular-beam epitaxy. Inclusion of an explicit anisotropy in surface nearest-neighbor diffusion barriers enables detailed reproduction of observed layer completion dependencies in the recovery profile of the reflection high-energy electron-diffraction (RHEED) specular intensity. The origin of this dependency is identified and discussed in light of the sensitivity of the specular RHEED intensity to surface morphology.