Microstructure and surface roughness of graphite-like carbon films deposited on silicon substrate by molecular dynamic simulation

DM Huang and JB Pu and ZB Lu and QJ Xue, SURFACE AND INTERFACE ANALYSIS, 44, 837-843 (2012).

DOI: 10.1002/sia.4898

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed on the atomic origin of the growth process of graphite-like carbon film on silicon substrate. The microstructure, mass density, and internal stress of as-deposited films are investigated systematically. A strong energy dependence of microstructure and stress is revealed by varying the impact energy of the incident atoms (in the range 1-120 eV). As the impact energy is increased, the film internal stress converts from tensile stress to compressive stress, which is in agreement with the experimental results, and the bonding of C-Si in the film is also increased for more substrate atoms are sputtered into the grown film. At the incident energy 40 eV, a densification of the deposited material is observed and the properties such as density, sp(3) fraction, and compressive stress all reach their maximums. In addition, the effect of impact energy on the surface roughness is also studied. The surface morphology of the film exhibits different characteristics with different incident energy. When the energy is low (<40 eV), the surface roughness is reduced with the increasing of incident energy, and it reaches the minimum at 50 eV. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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