Nucleation from ionic molecules in Stranski–Krastanov growth of CuCl on MgO 001/

The nucleation of islands during Stranski–Krastanov growth of CuCl on MgO 001.is studied by molecular beam epitaxy and atomic force microscopy. The dependence of island density N. on deposition flux R. is analyzed using the rate equation, for the first time, for a compound-material growth system in which the impinging particles are ionic molecules. The scaling of N;R0.5"0.1 observed at growth temperatures of 293, 313 and 333 K indicates a critical nucleus size of 2 to 3, leading to the smallest stable island of Cu3Cl3.n ns3–4.. q1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.