Role of Ostwald ripening in islanding processes

Abstract

We report measurements of the rate of growth of Ga and Sn clusters on clean Si surfaces. The volume rate of growth is linearly dependent on time, consistent with an Ostwald ripening mechanism for island growth. Activation energies for clustering, extracted from the temperature dependence, are shown to be sensitive to the underlying surface structure. This thermodynamical approach to the description of cluster formation is generally useful in determining the operational parameters and ultimate limits to heterostructure growth.