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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2011
We report fundamental changes in island nucleation dynamics as the kinetic energy of the constituent particles used for film grown is increased. A hyperthermal energy ion beam-line with precise control over ion kinetic energy was used to grow copper islands on a Cu(100) substrate. Dramatic increases in island densities were observed with increasing kinetic energy from thermal energies to 150 eV. We find that sputter erosion and the formation of adatom-vacancy pairs contribute to this increase. In addition, variations in flux and temperature suggest that the mean-field scaling exponent is sensitive to atomistic mechanisms activated by the ion beam.