We investigate interfacial dynamics of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) growth in the presence of instabilities inducing formation of pyramids. We introduce a kinetic scaling theory which provides an analytic understanding of the coarsening dynamics laws observed in numerous experiments and simulations of the MBE. We address MBE growth on crystalline surfaces with different symmetries in order to explain experimentally observed differences between the growth on (111) and (001) surfaces and understand the coarsening exponents measured on these surfaces. We supplement our kinetic scaling theory by numerical simulations which document that the edges of the pyramids, forming a network across the growing interface, are essential for qualitative understanding of the coarsening dynamics of molecular-beam epitaxy.

• Received 8 November 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.6190