Reentrant oscillation in kinetic thin-film deposition

We have studied the origin of reentrant growth oscillation in kinetic thin-film deposition on stepped surfaces using a Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that reentrant oscillation occurs as a result of growth modes competition between two-dimension-nucleation growth and step-flow growth due to a variation of surface-diffusion-length with deposition temperature, and that it is a natural phenomenon in non-equilibrium thin-film deposition on a substrate with a permanent step source.