Document Type
Article - postprint
Department
Physics (HMC)
Publication Date
1-2010
Abstract
Epitaxial growth, a bottom-up self-assembly process for creating surface nano- and microstructures, has been extensively studied in the context of atoms. This process, however, is also a promising route to self-assembly of nanometer- and micrometer-scale particles into microstructures that have numerous technological applications. To determine whether atomic epitaxial growth laws are applicable to the epitaxy of larger particles with attractive interactions, we investigated the nucleation and growth dynamics of colloidal crystal films with single-particle resolution. We show quantitatively that colloidal epitaxy obeys the same two-dimensional island nucleation and growth laws that govern atomic epitaxy. However, we found that in colloidal epitaxy, step-edge and corner barriers that are responsible for film morphology have a diffusive origin. This diffusive mechanism suggests new routes toward controlling film morphology during epitaxy.
Rights Information
© 2010 Ganapathy, et al.
Terms of Use & License Information
DOI
10.1126/science.1179947
Recommended Citation
R. Ganapathy, M. Buckley, S. J. Gerbode, and I. Cohen, “Direct measurements of island growth and step-edge barriers in colloidal epitaxy.” Science 22, 445-448 (2010). doi: 10.1126/science.1179947
Comments
This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for resdistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 22 January 2010 in Vol. 327 no. 5964, DOI: 10.1126/science.1179947.