Simulations of C-28 chemisorption on diamond (001)-(2X1) surface: The comparison between cluster-cluster interaction and cluster-surface interaction

In this article, the dynamic behavior of C-28 chemisorption on diamond (001 )-(2X1) surface was investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The many -body Brenner potential was employed to describe the interaction between ca rbon atoms. With the incident energy ranging from 25 to 40 eV, the single C -28 was found to have more than 50% of the probability to be chemisorbed on a diamond surface and to form two C-C bonds with one dimer of the surface. Then the chemisorption of two C-28 clusters was simulated at the above ene rgy range. The cluster-cluster interaction was found to hinder the next inc ident cluster to be chemisorbed. Besides, the juxtaposition configuration o f two C-28 on the surface was observed when their impact points were along the same dimer row. For multicluster impacting, when two or three clusters formed a nucleation site, the forthcoming cluster was easily to be adsorbed close to it. The growth of the C-28 cluster assembled film is typically a three dimensional island mode. Our study also showed that within the energy range the C-28 clusters retained their cage structure after chemisorption. This is in agreement with experimental results. (C) 2000 American Institut e of Physics. [S0021-8974(00)03223-0].