A restricted solid-on-solid model where surface relaxation occurs by atom desorption and by surface diffusion is introduced and studied in 1+1 dimensions. The interface profile is mapped onto a four-vertex model and the kinetic equation describing the moving surface is solved exactly for small...

Several aspects of the theory of epitaxial crystal growth from atomic or molecular beams are developed from the perspective of statistical physics. Lectures are devoted to the rate equation theory of two-dimensional nucleation and its limitations; the growth of multilayer wedding cakes in the...