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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, Physics and Astronomy, 2008.

Abstract

The main objective of the work presented in this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how the growth conditions may affect the surface morphology during deposition. In thin film growth physical processes in a very wide range of time and length scales are relevant. A set of quite different methods of modeling is required when aiming at a more or less complete realistic picture of the growth process. Accordingly, both computer simulations/modeling and analytic calculations were employed in our studies of thin film growth. In particular, a hybrid multi-scale model, which combines a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation for the thermal surface diffusion with a Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation of deposition events, was developed and successfully employed to study Cu/Cu(100) growth at a range of substrate temperatures and deposition angles. Predictive capabilities of this model allowed us to explain a number of puzzling experimental observations.

Another accomplishment presented in this thesis is an analytic calculation of the surface current and selected mound angle for the case of epitaxial growth on fcc(111) surface. The results of this calculation help to understand the morphologies observed experimentally for a wide range of systems and deposition conditions.

Subject Headings

Physics

Keywords

multi-scale; deposition angle; epitaxial thin-film metal growth; Cu/Cu(100); kinetic Monte Carlo; molecular dynamics

Committee / Advisors

Dr. Jacques Amar (Advisor)
Dr. Robert Collins (Committee Member)
Dr. Sanjay Khare (Committee Member)
Dr. Nancy Morrison (Committee Member)
Dr. Arunan Nadarajah (Committee Member)

Pages

159p.

Document number: toledo1216928358
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1216928358

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