Dynamic behavior of silver islands growing on GaAs (001)2x4 substrate

The growth of silver deposited on the GaAs(001)-(2x4) surface has been inve stigated via scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Silver aggregates in the Volmer-Weber mode, forming hut-shaped islands whose average dimension incre ases according to the power law Theta(1/z), with z approximate to 1.5 and T heta being the number of silver atoms deposited at constant rate on the sub strate. We found that 80% of the islands are elongated in the [110] directi on and bounded by {310} facets, while the remaining 20% are elongated in th e [(1) over bar 10] direction and bounded by {210} facets. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.