Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of surfactant-mediated Cu thin-film growth

A novel model consisting of basic micro-processes has been developed based upon the classic diffusion theory. It is the first time that the concept of exchange rate has been introduced, and the process of surfactant-mediated epitaxial thin-film growth has been simulated by the Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) technique. It is found that the exchange reaction in the Reaction Limited Aggregation (RLA) model is a combination of basic micro-processes. The majority of exchanges are not complete site exchanges and the exchange rate does not always equal one. Both surfactant atoms and adatoms diffuse from one layer to another. The diffusion occurs mostly between single atoms and the diffusing atoms increase with the substrate temperature or the film thickness.