Investigation of homoepitaxial growth on bcc surfaces with STM and kineticMonte Carlo simulation

Time-resolved in situ STM has been applied to the system Fe on Fe(110) to s tudy the characteristics of homoepitaxial growth on bcc surfaces. Additiona lly the growth of W on W(110) has been investigated which shows the same be haviour at 500 degrees C as iron at room temperature. The resulting data ar e compared with kinetic Monte Carlo simulation which include the correct sy mmetry of the bcc(110) surface. It is found that islands grow strongly anis otropically elongated in [100] which is due to a hindered diffusion at step edges along [001]. At room temperature the inter-layer diffusion is suppre ssed by a step edge barrier which leads at higher coverages to a kinetic ro ughening and a complete faceting of the surface. The developing stable face ts were investigated by SPA-LEED. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.