Pulsed sputtering during homoepitaxial surface growth: layer-by-layer forever

The homoepitaxial growth of initially flat surfaces has so far always led to surfaces which become rougher and rougher as the number of layers increases: even in systems exhibiting ‘‘layer-by-layer’’ growth the registry of the layers is gradually lost. We propose that pulsed glancing-angle sputtering, once per monolayer, can in principle lead to layer-by-layer growth that continues indefinitely, if one additional parameter is controlled. We illustrate our suggestion with a fairly realistic simulation of the growth of a Pt(111) surface, coupled with a simplified model for the sputtering process. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.