Kinetic model of the epitaxial growth in the presence of Schwoebel barriers

The kinetic model of the epitaxial growth is developed that takes into acco unt the existence of the Schwoebel diffusion barriers at the edges of two-d imensional islets. The kinetic equations are derived that describe the laye r epitaxial growth in the presence of the Schwoebel barriers depending on t he deposition conditions. The results of numerical integration of the equat ions demonstrate the influence of the height of the Schwoebel barrier on th e kinetics of the transition from the smooth layer-by-layer growth to the r ough three dimensional growth. It is shown that the influence of the barrie r is governed not only by its height but also by the energy of the diffusio n activation on the smooth terrace.