Kinetic Monte Carlo study of fractal growth with edge diffusion and reversible aggregation on a bcc(110) surface

The low-cove rage growth of Cu islands deposited on W(1 1 0) is studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation. The model includes deposition, diffusion of monomers, diffusion along island edges and reversible aggregation on cente red rectangular lattice with anisotropy of diffusion barriers. The simulati ons are performed at temperatures from 150 to 280 K with fluxes changing fr om 10(-7) to 10(-3) Ml/s. Island morphology ranges from ramified structures (fractals) at low temperatures to compact shapes at higher temperatures. T he low temperature growth regime consists of standard diffusion limited, ag gregation regime and extended fractal regime. The existence of EF regime at bcc(1 1 0) surface results from the inhibition of island equilibration by two neighboring bonds of edge adatom to an island in a centered rectangular lattice. The fractals obtained in EF regime have arms that widen with incr easing temperature as it is observed in experiments for other systems. The submonolayer morphology diagram in the (flux, temperature) plane is present ed and the region of possible fractal observation is indicated. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.