AVS 50th International Symposium
    Surface Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session SS-WeP

Paper SS-WeP26
Substrate Orientation Dependence for Ni Film Growth on Al Single Crystals: Comparisons of Atomistic Simulations with Experiment

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 11:00 am, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: R.J. Smith, Montana State University
Authors: R.J. Smith, Montana State University
N. Winward, Montana State University
C.V. Ramana, Montana State University
V. Shutthanandan, Montana State University
N.R. Shivaparan, Montana State University
Y.W. Kim, Montana State University
G. Bozzolo, NASA GRC and OAI
J. Morse, OAI
Correspondent: Click to Email
The structure and composition of metal-metal interfaces grown at room temperature is strongly dependent on a number of kinetically limited processes. Using ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS and HEIS), we have studied the evolution of interface alloying for room temperature deposition of Ni on low-index surfaces of Al, and find that the thickness and composition of the Ni-Al interface varies remarkably for Al(100) as compared to Al(110) and Al(111) substrates. In the present work we have used Monte Carlo simulations with embedded-atom potentials to study the interface evolution of Ni on these three Al surfaces. The results are compared with measurements of interface formation obtained using MeV He ion backscattering and channeling (RBS/c), as well as low-energy He ion scattering (LEIS). Both simulation and experiment show a greater tendency for Ni to remain at the surface of Al(100) when compared to the more open Al(110) and more close-packed Al(111) surfaces. To further understand this unusual behavior the BFS method for alloys is used to calculate the strain and chemical energies associated with a series of Ni-Al surface configurations, and in this manner, to construct a likely scenario for the evolution of the Ni-Al alloy on the three surfaces. Work supported by NSF DMR 00-77534.