Molecular-dynamics simulation of low-temperature growth of silicon films by cluster deposition

Silicon thin-film growth from cluster beams at a substrate temperature of 3 00 K has been investigated with molecular-dynamics simulations utilizing th e Stillinger-Weber two- and three-body interaction potential. The spreading of Si-atom clusters and the structure of grown films have been studied as a function of the incident cluster velocity. Our simulation results show th at the films grown at a low substrate temperature of 300 K are amorphous an d the substrates suffer heavier damage with an increase in the cluster velo city. As compared with our previous results on Si thin-film growth at a sub strate temperature of 1000 K, we found that substrate temperature and clust er velocity had a significant impact in determining the structure of the gr own films and the cluster spreading on the substrate.