Abstract

It has been recognized since the beginning of serious studies in surface science that kinetic processes underpin a whole range of surface phenomena, including, for example, phase transformations and ordering, epitaxial growth, and surface chemical behavior. However, with few exceptions, available techniques have not lent themselves well to obtaining a truly microscopic view of such kinetic processes. Because of its atomic resolution on the one hand, and the achievable wide field of view on the other (i.e., large dynamic range in resolution) scanning tunneling microcopy (STM) does afford this opportunity. In this talk, we briefly review the types of surface kinetics measurements that can be made using STM. It should be pointed out that the use of STM for studies of kinetics is one of the more recent applications of what is itself still a very young field; hence much remains to be accomplished. We have concentrated our investigations on the initial stages of molecular beam epitaxy of Si and Ge on Si(001) and will use this surface in our examples.

© 1991 Optical Society of America