User:Vesselin.Tonchev/sandbox

Step Bunching

Step Bunching (SB) is a process in which the steps from a vicinal crystal surface loose their initial equidistant distribution and form groups of steps called bunches thus leaving large areas almost free of steps, called terraces. In the whole process of surface re-organization the steps remain straight and this permits the modelling of this process using (1+1) D models based on systems of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) - one ODE for the velocity of each step.

Notes on the terminology - step bunching, step meandering, macrostep formation, surface facetting

What is typical for the step bunching

Classification of step bunching phenomena

Two types of step bunching phenomena are identified so far, distinguished by the number of the length-scales necessary to describe the phenomenon thoroughly - B1-type (one length-scale hence the step bunches formed are self-similar in both time and space in the regime of intermediate assymptotics.

SB of the B1-type

SB of the B2-type

Within the B2-type of SB there is a further demarcation based on the hypothesis of universality classes in SB.

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