TY - JOUR
T1 - Ratchet effect in surface electromigration
T2 - Smoothing surfaces by an ac field
AU - Derényi, Imre
AU - Lee, Choongseop
AU - Barabási, Albert László
PY - 1998/2/16
Y1 - 1998/2/16
N2 - We demonstrate that for surfaces that have a nonzero Schwoebel barrier the application of an ac field parallel to the surface induces a net electromigration current that points in the descending step direction. The magnitude of the current is calculated analytically and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Since a downhill current smoothes the surface, our results imply that the application of ac fields can aid the smoothing process during annealing and can slow or eliminate the Schwoebel-barrier-induced mound formation during growth.
AB - We demonstrate that for surfaces that have a nonzero Schwoebel barrier the application of an ac field parallel to the surface induces a net electromigration current that points in the descending step direction. The magnitude of the current is calculated analytically and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Since a downhill current smoothes the surface, our results imply that the application of ac fields can aid the smoothing process during annealing and can slow or eliminate the Schwoebel-barrier-induced mound formation during growth.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=11744306629&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.1473
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.1473
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:11744306629
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 80
SP - 1473
EP - 1476
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 7
ER -