M. Kubo et al., LAYER-BY-LAYER HOMOEPITAXIAL GROWTH-PROCESS OF MGO(001) AS INVESTIGATED BY MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS, DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL THEORY, AND COMPUTER-GRAPHICS, The Journal of chemical physics, 107(11), 1997, pp. 4416-4422
We applied molecular dynamics, density functional theory, and computer
graphics techniques to the investigation of the homoepitaxial growth
process of the MgO(001) surface. MgO molecules are deposited over the
MgO(001) plane one by one at regular time intervals with definite velo
cities. Any deposited MgO molecule migrated on the surface, and later
a two-dimensional and epitaxial growth of MgO thin layer was observed
at 300 K which is in agreement with the experimental result. However,
some defects were constructed in the grown film at low temperature of
300 K, which is in remarkable contrast to that at 1000 K. In the latte
r case, a single flat and smooth MgO layer without defects was formed,
which also agreed with the experimental result. Self-diffusion coeffi
cients and activation energy for the surface diffusion of the deposite
d MgO molecule on the MgO(001) plane were discussed to clarify the tem
perature-dependency of the epitaxial growth process. (C) 1997 American
Institute of Physics.