AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Thin Film Thursday Sessions
       Session TF2-ThA

Paper TF2-ThA2
Computational Study of the Initial Stage of Pulsed Laser Deposition of SrTiO@sub 3@ Thin Films

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 2:20 pm, Room 2022

Session: Pulsed Laser Deposition of Thin Films
Presenter: J.M. McKillip, University of Florida
Authors: J.M. McKillip, University of Florida
R.K. Behera, University of Florida
S.R. Phillpot, University of Florida
S.B. Sinnott, University of Florida
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Thin film deposition of SrTiO@sub 3@ is currently a popular area of research due to its widespread use in electronic applications and the motivation to shrink electronic components. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is an effective deposition process yielding dense, homogeneous thin films. Here, classical molecular dynamics simulations are used to delve into the initial processes occurring in PLD. The simulations show that collisions between the incident particles and the substrate can induce chemical bonding. This study considers the deposition of SrO and TiO@sub 2@ molecules assigned a kinetic energy of 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 eV/atom on a (001) surface of SrTiO@sub 3@. The effects of impact energy and surface termination layer (SrO vs. TiO@sub 2@) are examined. The main surface phenomenon of interest is chemical changes that occur at the metal-oxide surface due to the incident particles and structural features of the deposited film. The simulation results are compared to experimental data, where available.