Ostwald ripening on a substrate : modeling local interparticle diffusion

(Received 1 December 1993, received in final form 7 February 1994, accepted 16 February 1994)

Abstract
A model with local interparticle diffusion is considered, in contrast with the classical model of Ostwald ripening (the mean field model) and its multiparticle extensions which have long range interactions. Simulations of the evolution of the system show that the asymptotic behavior obeys a power law. It is also found that the scaled asymptotic distribution of particle radii is broader than in the previous models, even at low initial coverage where the multiparticle models have the same narrow scaled distribution as the mean field model. The scaling properties are independent of the initial particle size distribution.