Growth of nanostructures by cluster deposition : a review

TL;DR

This review analyzes models and simulations of nanostructure growth via cluster deposition, providing tools and insights for experimental analysis and future technological applications.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive set of simulation tools and a detailed analysis of growth processes, aiding experimentalists in understanding and quantifying cluster deposition phenomena.

Findings

High cluster mobility on surfaces was observed.

An approximate formula relates cluster size to island size based on melting temperature.

Simulations help identify key processes in nanostructure growth.

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of simple models useful to analyze the growth of nanostructures obtained by cluster deposition. After detailing the potential interest of nanostructures, I extensively study the first stages of growth (the submonolayer regime) by kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations. These simulations are performed in a wide variety of experimental situations : complete condensation, growth with reevaporation, nucleation on defects, total or null cluster-cluster coalescence... The main scope of the paper is to help experimentalists analyzing their data to deduce which of those processes are important and to quantify them. A software including all these simulation programs is available at no cost on request to the author. I carefully discuss experiments of growth from cluster beams and show how the mobility of the clusters on the surface can be measured : surprisingly high values are found. An important issue for future technological applications of cluster deposition is the relation between the size of the incident clusters and the size of the islands obtained on the substrate. An approximate formula which gives the ratio of the two sizes as a function of the melting temperature of the material deposited is given. Finally, I study the atomic mechanisms which can explain the diffusion of the clusters on a substrate and the result of their mutual interaction (simple juxtaposition, partial or total coalescence...)