RENORMALIZATION-GROUP ANALYSIS AND SIMULATIONAL STUDIES OF GROOVE INSTABILITY IN SURFACE GROWTH

The existence of groove instability in linear and nonlinear models of surface growth with diffusion is discussed using renormalization group analysis and computer simulation studies. We present the results of t he simulation of a surface growth model with diffusion in which the di ffusion of atoms on the surface is controlled by the Hamiltonian of an unrestricted solid-on-solid model. We discuss the dynamic scaling beh avior of our model as well as its instability to groove formation. As a more analytical approach to the problem of groove formation, we pres ent a renormalization group analysis in one dimension of a nonlinear L angevin equation for surface growth with diffusion. By eliminating the fast degrees of freedom for the order parameter defined to be the loc al slope of the surface height, the resulting equation of motion for t he coarse-grained order parameter is found to be unstable towards tran sition to a broken symmetry state consistent with the existence of a g rooved phase.