The growth of extremely thin crystals: a Monte Carlo study and an application to n-paraffins
vanHoof-PJCM; vanEnckevort-WJP; Schoutsen-M
JOURNAL-OF-CRYSTAL-GROWTH. OCT 1998; 193 (4) : 679-691.
Abstract:
Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to investigate the growth and surface structures of the side faces of thin crystals and the top faces
of needle-shaped crystals. The simulations have been used to investigate the effect of the width of the surfaces on their growth properties, such as
the equilibrium point and the roughening temperature. Because of the Gibbs-Thomson effect the equilibrium point of small crystal faces shifts towards
higher supersaturations. This effect could be simulated very accurately and relations, describing the shift in equilibrium, have been derived. The
roughening temperature of very small crystal faces depends also on their size. The roughening transition of crystal faces with different sizes has been
investigated by the Monte Carlo technique and a simple analytical model to explain the increase in roughening temperature for decreasing crystal
widths has been derived. From an experimental point of view the Gibbs-Thomson effect has been observed during the growth of thin n-paraffin
crystals from different solutions and quantitative measurements have been performed on those systems. The expressions derived from theory and
Monte Carlo simulations have successfully been used to fit the experimental data and surface energies of the n-paraffin {0 0 1} faces are thus
obtained. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.