AVS 45th International Symposium
    Vacuum Metallurgy Division Monday Sessions
       Session VM-MoA

Paper VM-MoA8
Molecular Dynamics Study of Al PVD Processes

Monday, November 2, 1998, 4:20 pm, Room 328

Session: Plasma Assisted Surface Treatments and Coatings
Presenter: U.P. Hansen, Technical University Munich, Germany
Authors: U.P. Hansen, Technical University Munich, Germany
P. Vogl, Technical University Munich, Germany
A. Kersch, Siemens Ag, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
We present a computationally efficient classical many body potential that has been designed to model the Al-Al interaction in a wide range of bonding geometries ranging from bulk AL to Al surfaces and to the Al@sub 2@ dimer. It is shown that this potential yields Al elastic constants, Al surface diffusion barriers, surface formation energies and Al@sub 2@ properties in excellent agreement with experiment and/or previous ab-initio results. Detailed molecular dynamics simulations are performed that elucidate the different surface reactions taking place during Al physical vapor deposition. We find a high sticking probability for Al atoms impinging normal on Al surfaces and the sticking coefficient is decreasing with increasing incident angle to the surface normal. Detailed explanation for this prediction including atomistic surface reactions is presented. The energy dependence of the sticking probability calculated by our model deviates clearly from predictions of a simple hard sphere picture.