Two-step unconventional protocol for epitaxial growth in one dimension with hindered reactions

Colloidal model of two-step protocol for epitaxial growth in one dimension

“…The time evolution of the densities N 1 and N s during the first step can be analyzed using standard rate equations (RE) [5,7,16,23,40,41]. Consequently, the behavior of the monomer density is given by…”

“…However, how these quantities are interrelated, is not completely understood; for instance, the exact functional forms of the capture zone and island size distributions remain unknown. Moreover, the evidence shows that both distributions contain relevant but not necessarily equivalent or complete information about the growth process [1][2][3][4][5][6][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…In this way, a basic model for describing EG from a microscopic perspective should involve three fundamental processes, i.e., particle transport on the substrate (diffusion), stable-clusters formation (nucleation), and stableclusters growth (aggregation) [4][5][6][7][14][15][16]. These processes * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”

“…A major advantage of the 2SG protocol is that nucleation and aggregation processes occur at different time scales. This separation of the processes leads to better understanding and control of the growth process [8,16].…”

“…Motivated by Tokar and Dreyssé's proposal [8], here we extend previous theoretical work [16,24,[30][31][32][33][34] and consider the application of the 2SG protocol to a one-dimensional EG model for colloidal particles. As mentioned above, this model can be experimentally tested and would be useful for the fabrication of templates for ordered nanostructures (i.e., colloidal lithography) and also to understand the inherent properties of the monolayer, as for example the formation and growth of islands [35].…”