FACETING THROUGH THE PROPAGATION OF NUCLEATION

Experiments show that faceting of a vicinal surface can be induced by surface reconstruction, which often occurs only on sufficiently wide terraces. We study this process using a one-dimensional terrace-step model that assigns a lower free energy to terraces wider than a critical width W-c. When mass is conserved locally, through surface diffusion, we find that a reconstructed terrace can nucleate the growth of another such terrace nearby. The dynamics and spatial distribution of facets arising from this model are very different from that produced by conventional thermal nucleation.