| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 59, Number 2, July 2002
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 239 - 244 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2002-00232-4 | |
| Published online | 01 July 2002 | |
Universal exponents and step-step interactions
on vicinal 
surfaces
1
Institut für Schichten und Grenzflächen, ISG 3
Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany
2
Carnegie-Mellon University, Department of Materials
Science and Engineering - Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Corresponding author: h.bonzel@fz-juelich.de
Received:
6
February
2002
Accepted:
17
April
2002
A 1
diameter 
crystallite, supported on
, was equilibrated and imaged by scanning tunneling
microscopy at 298
. The vicinal shapes close to the (111)
facet at the top of the crystal were analyzed in detail to
determine the critical shape exponent and the step-step interaction
energy as well as the interaction constant of the potential. An
average shape exponent of 1.47 and a step interaction energy of
were obtained. The exponent is very close
to the theoretically predicted universal value of 3/2 and as such
provides clear evidence for a dominant 
step interaction
potential. The ratio of step free energy to step interaction energy
for at 298 is 
.
PACS: 68.35.-p – Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces: Structure and energetics / 68.35.Bs – Structure of clean surfaces (reconstruction) / 68.35.Md – Surface thermodynamics, surface energies
© EDP Sciences, 2002
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