Initial Stages of Thin Film Growth in the Presence of Island-Edge Barriers

A model of submonolayer thin film growth is studied, where the attachment of atoms to island edges is hindered by an energy barrier. A novel behavior of the density of islands, $N_s$, is predicted as a function of flux $F$ and temperature $T$. For example, $N_s$ scales as $F^X$ with ${X=2i}^{*}/(i^{*}+3\mathrm{})$, where $i^{*}$ is the critical island size, in contrast with the standard result ${X=i}^{*}/(i^{*}+2\mathrm{})$. The theory is applicable to surfactant mediated growth and chemical vapor deposition. It explains recent experiments, which are inconsistent with the standard theory.