Initial stages of thin film growth in the presence of island-edge barriers

A model of submonolayer thin film growth is studied, where the attachment of atoms to island edges is hindered by an energy barrier, A novel behavior of the density of islands, N-s, is predicted as a function of flux F and temperature T. For example, N-s scales as FX with X = 2i(*)/(i(*) + 3), where i(*) is the critical island size, in contrast with the standard result X = i(*)/(i(*) + 2). The theory is applicable to surfactant mediated growth and chemical vapor deposition. It explains recent experiments, which are inconsistent with the standard theory.