A novel method to determine the Ehrlich–Schwoebel barrier

The homoepitaxial growth of Cu on Cu(0 0 1) has been investigated with low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM). The temporal evolution of engineered pyramid-like structures has been monitored for a range of incident Cu fluxes and substrate temperatures. The step velocities have been analyzed in the framework of a novel growth model that contains as the only adjustable parameter the height of the Ehrlich–Schwoebel (ES) barrier. The simultaneous description of all step velocities observed within the flux and temperature range covered by our experiments determines the height of the ES barrier to about 125 meV in this system.