Roughness exponent and a scaling function for the assembling/disassembling of faceted macrosteps

Abstract

Analyzing the surface width of the vicinal surface with faceted macrosteps, the provisional roughness exponents α_p are obtained. The α_p depends on the driving force for crystal growth. The α_p slightly increases as the system size increases. Further analysis of the surface width around the macrostep assembling/disassembling point, a scaling function for the macrostep assembling/disassembling is found. From the behavior of the scaling function, the roughness exponent for the infinite system size is obtained as 0.60.