Revisiting the Meandering Instability During Step-Flow Epitaxy

Abstract

This paper starts with a generalized Burton, Cabrera and Frank (BCF) model by considering the energetic contribution of the adjacent terraces to the step chemical potential. We use the linear stability analysis of the quasistatic free-boundary problem for a two-dimensional step separated by broad terraces to study the step-meandering instabilities. The results show that the equilibrium adatom coverage has influence on the morphological instabilities.