3-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-SIMULATIONS OF HIGH-TC EPITAXIAL FILM GROWTH

A three-dimensional Monte Carlo model of the anisotropic thin film growth has been developed. The model assumes on-lattice positioning of growth units and directional interaction between them, it takes into account processes of reevaporation and thermal hopping of the growth units, and involves anisotropic bond energies as parameters. Using this model the dependences of the film morphology on the substrate temperature and supersaturation can be computed. The model allows one to explain experimentally observed complicated transformations of the surface morphology as the substrate temperature is varying. It also allows one to predict the preferential orientation of the growing film and the density of defects.