1204.5957 (Vladislav Popkov et al.)

Singular response to a dopant of an evaporating crystal surface    [PDF]

Vladislav Popkov, Paolo Politi

Moving crystal surfaces can undergo step-bunching instabilities, when subject to an electric current. We show analytically that an infinitesimal quantity of a dopant may invert the stability, whatever the sign of the current. Our study is relevant for experimental results [S.S. Kosolobov et al., JETP Lett. 81, 117 (2005)] on an evaporating Si(111) surface in the presence of a variable quantity of Au, whose density distribution is related to inhomogeneous Si diffusion.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.5957