ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE STUDY OF GROWTH-KINETICS - SCALING IN THE HETEROEPITAXY OF CUCL ON CAF2(111)

We used the molecular beam epitaxial growth of CuCl on CaF2(111) to determine if scaling theory provides insight into the kinetic mechanisms of heteroepitaxy. We measured quantitative surface topographs of several films representing the island nucleation, growth, and coalescence regimes of film growth with an atomic force microscope, and found that the static scaling exponent of all the surfaces was alpha = 0.84 +/- 0.05. This alpha value is closer to theoretical predictions in which surface diffusion is the dominant smoothening mechanism than to those involving evaporation and recondensation.