Multilayer growth of BaTiO3 thin films via pulsed laser deposition: An energy-dependent kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract An energy-dependent kinetic Monte Carlo approach was proposed to simulate the multilayer growth of BaTiO3 thin films via pulsed laser deposition, in which the four steps, such as the deposition of atoms, the diffusion of adatoms, the bonding of adatoms, and the surface migration of adatoms, were considered. Distinguishing with the traditional solid-on-solid (SOS) model, the adatom bonding and the overhanging of atoms, according to the perovskite structure, were specially adopted to describe the ferroelectric thin film growth. The activation energy was considered from the interactions between the ions, which were calculated by Born–Mayer–Huggins (BMH) potential. From the simulation the relative curves of the each layer coverage and roughness vs total coverage were obtained by varying the parameter values of the incident kinetic energy, laser repetition rate and mean deposition rate. The relationship between growth modes and the different parameters was also acquired.