On the interplay between steering and interlayer diffusion in Cu(001) homoepitaxy

The evolution of the morphology of thin films during deposition at grazing incidence leads to the formation of intrinsically anisotropic structures. This phenomenon is of both fundamental and practical interest. In technology this feature is exploited to manufacture tapes for perpendicular magnetic recording and also for producing optical filters with a narrow transmission window. The physical principles underlying the anisotropy of thin films deposited at grazing incidence long remained a mystery. Quite recently, experiments performed in my host group revealed that long range attractive forces, exerted on the gas phase atoms by the substrate, are responsible for the obtained anisotropy. These so-called dispersion forces are responsible for an effect coined as steering. Due to steering protrusions at the surface receive a relatively high flux of atoms while the flux on indentations is relatively low. This thesis deals with a systematic theoretical and experimental study on steering induced flux heterogeneity and its consequences for the evolving morphology of the growth front during deposition. The homoepitaxial growth of Cu (001) has been elected as a prototype system.