Percolation in Models of Thin Film Depositions

TL;DR

This study investigates percolation behavior in thin film deposition models, revealing how mixed deposition rules and particle types influence percolation thresholds, universality classes, and dimensional crossover in surface layer formation.

Contribution

It introduces a mixed deposition model combining random and ballistic rules, analyzing percolation properties and universality classes in (2+1)-dimensional surface growth.

Findings

Percolation layer height varies with deposition rules and particle types.

Percolation transition remains in the same universality class as 2D percolation.

A crossover from 2D to 3D percolation occurs with increasing layer height.

Abstract

We have studied the percolation behaviour of deposits for different (2+1)-dimensional models of surface layer formation. The mixed model of deposition was used, where particles were deposited selectively according to the random (RD) and ballistic (BD) deposition rules. In the mixed one-component models with deposition of only conducting particles, the mean height of the percolation layer (measured in monolayers) grows continuously from 0.89832 for the pure RD model to 2.605 for the pure RD model, but the percolation transition belong to the same universality class, as in the 2- dimensional random percolation problem. In two- component models with deposition of conducting and isolating particles, the percolation layer height approaches infinity as concentration of the isolating particles becomes higher than some critical value. The crossover from 2d to 3d percolation was observed with increase of the percolation layer height.