Simulation of nano Si and Al wires growth on Si (100) surface

Growth of nano Si and Al wires on the Si (100) surfaces is investigated by computer simulation, including the anisotropic diffusion and the anisotropic sticking. The diffusion rates along and across the substrate dimer rows are different, so are the sticking probabilities of an adatom, at the end sites of existing islands or the side sites. Both one-dimensional wires of Si and Al are perpendicular to the dimer rows of the substrate, though the diffusion of Si adatoms is contrary to that of Al adatoms, i.e. Si adatoms diffuse faster along the dimer rows while Al adatoms diffuse faster across the dimer rows. The simulation results also show that the shape anisotropy of islands is due to the sticking anisotropy rather than the diffusion anisotropy, which is in agreement with the experiments.