Kinetic mechanisms in ion-induced ripple formation on Cu(0 0 1) surfaces

The formation of ion-induced ripples on Cu(0 0 1) surfaces is the result of competing kinetic mechanisms for roughening and smoothing. A rate equation based on the Bradley–Harper instability and the effect of barriers to interlayer transport enables us to identify different regimes of pattern formation corresponding to different processing conditions. We use this approach to interpret measurements of ripple formation on Cu(0 0 1) surfaces. The temperature and flux dependence of the wavelength is used to determine the kinetic regime for production and transport of mobile surface defects.