MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION STUDY OF THE VACUUM DEPOSITION PROCESS

The initial stage of the vacuum deposition process was simulated by the Monte-Carlo (MC) method. A Lennard-Jones potential was assumed as the atomic interaction. Varying the binding energy of the film-substrate atom pair and the atomic size of film atoms, the change of the critical misfit strain of the coherent interface and the difference of the growth mode were studied. The critical misfit strain of the coherent interface was 4% for the case where the binding energies of the constituent atoms were all equal. Change of the growth mode occurred when the misfit strain of the interface was increased while the strength of the potential was kept constant. The value of the critical misfit strain and the boundary between the 2D (two-dimensional) and 3D growth modes were shifted sensitively with change of the strength of the potential.