  We study the onset and development of ledge instabilities during growth of
vicinal metal surfaces using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. We observe the
formation of periodic patterns at [110] close packed step edges on surfaces
vicinal to fcc(001) under realistic molecular beam epitaxy conditions. The
corresponding wavelength and its temperature dependence are studied by
monitoring the autocorrelation function for step edge position. Simulations
suggest that the ledge instability on fcc(1,1,m) vicinal surfaces is controlled
by the strong kink Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier, with the wavelength determined by
dimer nucleation at the step edge. Our results are in agreement with recent
continuum theoretical predictions, and experiments on Cu(1,1,17) vicinal
surfaces.
