Relation between macroscopic and microscopic activation energies in nonequilibrium surface processing

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© 2003 American Physical Society (APS). This is the accepted version of the following article: Gosálvez, M. A. & Nieminen, Risto M. 2003. Relation between macroscopic and microscopic activation energies in nonequilibrium surface processing. Physical Review E. Volume 68, Issue 3. 031604/1-16. ISSN 1539-3755 (printed). DOI: 10.1103/physreve.68.031604, which has been published in final form at http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.68.031604.
Final published version

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Volume Title

School of Science | A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2003

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

031604/1-16

Series

Physical Review E, Volume 68, Issue 3

Abstract

Realistic Monte Carlo simulations show that the apparent macroscopic activation energy is only partially explained by the expected expression for the average over the microscopic activation energies for surface processing. An additional term accounting for the existence of fluctuations in the fractions of particles has to be taken into account. In all cases considered, the additional term can be accurately estimated by a posteriori analysis of the temperature dependence of the surface densities. In addition, we demonstrate that the relative contribution of the different competing microscopic processes to the macroscopic activation energy can be accurately obtained during the simulations, allowing for the unambiguous identification of the particular surface species which effectively control the process. As an example of the nonequilibrium open interfaces to which the results apply, the case of wet chemical etching of crystalline silicon is considered. The results can be directly applied to surface growth.

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Keywords

activation energies, surface processing, Monte Carlo simulations

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Citation

Gosálvez, M. A. & Nieminen, Risto M. 2003. Relation between macroscopic and microscopic activation energies in nonequilibrium surface processing. Physical Review E. Volume 68, Issue 3. 031604/1-16. ISSN 1539-3755 (printed). DOI: 10.1103/physreve.68.031604.