Dynamic Scaling in Epitaxial Growth

In this article I provide a brief theoretical perspective on our current understanding of the dynamic scaling phenomena in nonequilibrium epitaxial growth with the emphasis on the extensively studied ultrahigh vacuum thin film deposition growth, such as MBE growth, where the main growth front smoothening mechanism competing against the surface kinetic roughening induced by inherent shot noise fluctuations in the random deposition process is the adatom mobility associated with surface diffusion at the growth front. The introduction sets the tone, and in subsequent sections I expand upon the key themes arising in the Introduction. In particular, the issues of universality, continuum growth equations, atomistic growth models, and unstable growth as in smooth growth and mound formation are discussed in the four sections following the Introduction.