ISLAND-SIZE SCALING IN SURFACE DEPOSITION PROCESSES

Diffusion-mediated nucleation and growth of islands during deposition occurs essentially irreversibly in a variety of systems. We provide a scaling theory for the full island-size distribution, both with the ra tio of surface diffusion to deposition rates and with time. Scaling fu nctions and exponents are determined by simulation and explained analy tically by an unconventional rate-equation analysis. Experimental test s for theoretical predictions are discussed, including the scaling of superlattice beam profiles for diffraction studies of heteroepitaxial systems.