Atomic size effects in continuum modeling

Continuum modeling of many physical systems typically assumes that the spatial extent of an atom is small compared to the quantities of interest and can therefore be neglected. We show that this is valid only asymptotically. For many applications of practical interest, the spatial extent of a discrete atom cannot be neglected. We have developed a model for the description of epitaxial growth based on the levelset method, and find that we can accurately predict quantities such as the island densities, if we implement boundary conditions in a region with atomic width, rather than just on a line without any spatial extent. Only in the limit of very large islands and island spacings can this be neglected.