Deposition of hydrocarbon molecules on diamond (001) surfaces: atomic scale modeling

The impact induced chemisorption of hydrocarbon molecules (CH3 and CH2) on H-terminated diamond (001)-(2×1) surface was investigated by molecular dynamics simulation using the many-body Brenner potential. The deposition dynamics of the CH3 radical at impact energies of 0.1–50 eV per molecule was studied and the energy threshold for chemisorption was calculated. The impact-induced decomposition of hydrogen atoms and the dimer opening mechanism on the surface was investigated. Furthermore, the probability for dimer opening event induced by chemisorption of CH3 was simulated by randomly varying the impact position as well as the orientation of the molecule relative to the surface. Finally, the energetic hydrocarbons were modeled, slowing down one after the other to simulate the initial fabrication of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. The structure characteristic in synthesized films with different hydrogen flux was studied. Our results indicate that CH3, CH2 and H are highly reactive and important species in diamond growth. Especially, the fraction of C-atoms in the film having sp3 hybridization will be enhanced in the presence of H atoms, which is in good agreement with experimental observations.