Amorphous thin film growth: Effects of density inhomogeneities - art. no. 031506

A nonlinear stochastic growth equation for the spatiotemporal evolution of the surface morphology of amorphous thin films in the presence of potential density variations is derived from the relevant physical symmetries and co mpared to recent experimental results. Numerical simulations of the growth equation exhibit a saturation of the surface morphology for large film thic kness originating from the inclusion of the density inhomogeneities. Furthe r-more, we argue why moundlike surface structures observed on vapor deposit ed amorphous films are not the result of the Grinfeld instability.