Review of atomistic simulations of surface diffusion and growth on semiconductors

Recent experimental work on surface diffusion and growth phenomena on semiconductors has inspired a number of atomistic simulations. These are based either on empirical approaches such as classical interatomic potentials, or on first-principles quantum mechanical calculations. After a brief overview of relevant experimental work, we review the basic features of the theoretical approaches and discuss their advantages and shortcomings in the context of surface diffusion and growth simulations for semiconductors. Some representative systems, for which calculations employing different computational approaches have been reported in the literature, are discussed in detail.