Onset of shadowing-dominated growth of Ag films in glancing angle deposition: Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract A three-dimensional (3D) kinetic Monte Carlo simulation was performed for the growth evolution of Ag films during glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Under the GLAD conditions, we demonstrate that without substrate rotation the nanorods are grown aslant due to shadowing anisotropy, while with the rapid substrate rotation the nanorods are grown vertically aligned due to shadowing isotropy. Good agreement of growth trends between simulations and experiments has been achieved. In the case of substrate rotation, the critical rotate rate of nanorods just vertical to the substrate has been found. The growth exponent evolutions of Ag films in normal and glancing angle depositions are found similar in the very early stages of growth. The diverging of growth exponents with film height increasing indicates that shadowing instabilities overpower the smoothing effects associated with surface diffusion. Furthermore, we demonstrate the transition from two-dimensional to 3D islanded growth under the condition of high glancing angle deposition.