QUASIDENDRITIC GROWTH DUE TO ELASTIC FIELDS

A model is proposed to explain the quasidendritic growth of Co islands deposited on a Pt(111) surface observed in the experiments made by Gr utter and Durig in 1995. We simulate the growth of the Co islands usin g a Ginzburg-Landau approach. The elastic field is eliminated from the problem using the condition of mechanical equilibrium. The anisotropy of the lattice strain is shown to have a profound impact on the morph ology of the domain growth. We first outline the method and the result ing equations. Preliminary numerical results showing a qualitative res emblance between their experimental results and our simulations are pr esented.