Modelling of growth of thin solid films obtained by pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method of thin films fabrication requires app ropriate choice of technological parameters. These are: substrate temperatu re, the energy density of the laser radiation, its wavelength, the pulse du ration, the distance target-substrate, etc. Exact analysis of the influence of these parameters on the layer growth is too difficult to be performed. Therefore, the computer simulation of the layer growth is very promising me thod for determining the growth parameters. Tn the paper, the growth of Si and CdTe films on the (0 0 1) substrate surface was simulated by the Monte Carlo method. The model for layer growth included: surface diffusion, adsor ption and desorption of adatoms, kinetic energy distribution of atoms or io ns in the plasma plume and its space and time structure, Results obtained h ave been compared with some experimental data. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevi er Science B.V.