Mass transport through surface electromigration strongly affects the stability and morphology of metal surfaces. Here the problem is treated within a continuum theory which takes full account of the nonlocal coupling between the electromagnetic bulk potential and the surface evolution. Key results of the numerical solution of the resulting moving boundary value problem are a scale-dependent drift of surface features and the absence of stable selected facet orientations. These effects cannot be reproduced within approximate local theories.

• Received 6 September 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.278