SURFACTANT-MEDIATED GROWTH OF NONEQUILIBRIUM INTERFACES

A number of recent experiments have shown that surfactants can modify the growth mode of an epitaxial film, suppressing islanding and promot ing layer-by-layer growth. Here I introduce a set of coupled equations to describe the nonequilibrium roughening of an interface covered wit h a thin surfactant layer. The surfactant may drive the system into a novel phase, in which the surface roughness is negative, corresponding to a flat surface.