Molecular dynamics simulation of deposition of nickel nanocluster on copper surface

The burrowing of nickel nanocluster deposited onto the copper surface is investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The simulation is carried out at different temperatures for 40.1 ns with three different lattice orientations Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) that have 20 × 20 × 15, 14 × 14 × 15, and 12 × 14 × 9 lattice units, respectively. The Ni(100) nanocluster consists of 249 atoms (five lattices diameter) and the initial kinetic energy is assigned to be 0 eV. The results show that the burrowing process goes extremely slow as temperature is at or under 900 K. There is virtually no burrowing observed when the system temperature is below 500 K. The burrowing processes at different temperatures are discussed in terms of kinetic energy of the cluster exerted by the strong capillary force. It is found that the kinetic energy will play a key role in the acceleration of the burrowing process.