Monte Carlo approach of the islanding of polycrystalline thin films

TL;DR

This paper uses a Monte Carlo method to simulate the evolution of polycrystalline thin films during thermal treatment, analyzing island formation on different substrates and comparing results with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a Monte Carlo simulation based on the Solid on Solid model to study islanding phenomena in thin films with different substrate defect levels.

Findings

Numerical nanoisland morphologies match experimental results.

Flat and tower-like island structures are observed.

Substrate defects influence island growth patterns.

Abstract

We computed by a Monte Carlo method derived from the Solid on Solid model, the evolution of a polycrystalline thin film deposited on a substrate during thermal treatment. Two types of substrates have been studied: a single crystalline substrate with no defects and a single crystalline substrate with defects. We obtain islands which are either flat (i.e. with a height which does not overcome a given value) or grow in height like narrow towers. A good agreement was found regarding the morphology of numerical nanoislands at equilibrium, deduced from our model, and experimental nanoislands resulting from the fragmentation of YSZ thin films after thermal treatment.