Thin film growth by random deposition of linear polymers on a square lattice

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to analyze how linear polymer particles of various sizes randomly deposit on a 2D lattice, revealing three growth regimes with size-dependent dynamics and non-universal exponents.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the growth regimes and exponents for 2D polymer deposition, highlighting size-dependent intermediate growth behavior.

Findings

Three distinct growth regimes identified: uncorrelated, intermediate, and saturation.

Intermediate growth exponent varies with particle size, showing non-universality.

Saturation roughness exponent is nearly independent of particle size.

Abstract

We present some results of Monte Carlo simulations for the deposition of particles of different sizes on a two-dimensional substrate. The particles are linear, height one, and can be deposited randomly only in the two, $x$ and $y$ directions of the substrate, and occupy an integer number of cells of the lattice. We show there are three different regimes for the temporal evolution of the interface width. At the initial times we observe an uncorrelated growth, with an exponent $\beta_{1}$ characteristic of the random deposition model. At intermediate times, the interface width presents an unusual behavior, described by a growing exponent $\beta_{2}$, which depends on the size of the particles added to the substrate. If the linear size of the particle is two we have $\beta_{2}<\beta_{1}$, otherwise we have $\beta_{2}>\beta_{1}$, for all other particle sizes. After a long time the growth reaches the saturation regime where the interface width becomes constant and is described by the roughness exponent $\alpha$, which is nearly independent of the size of the particle. Similar results are found in the surface growth due to the electrophoretic deposition of polymer chains. Contrary to one-dimensional results the growth exponents are non-universal.