Unstable epitaxy on vicinal surfaces

Epitaxial growth on a vicinal surface in the step flow regime, where the diffusion length exceeds the step spacing, is studied by simulation of a continuum equation and a solid-on-solid model. Such a surface is known to undergo a meandering instability if step edge barriers suppress downward interlayer transport. We show that the resulting ripple pattern is itself unstable, and evolves at long times into an essentially isotropic mound morphology which is qualitatively and quantitatively indistinguishable from that obtained on singular surfaces.

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