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research papers
Steps on surfaces are important in crystal growth theory, as the step free energy determines the two-dimensional nucleation rate, island growth, step flow and spiral growth. In this paper, it is illustrated that in general in lattice models the step energy of a single step cannot be determined directly by counting broken bonds. A new method is proposed that uses the geometry of a step together with the bonding topology, allowing for a straightforward determination of single-step energies for any case. The method is applied to an anisotropic Kossel model.