Simulation study of silicon deposition at oblique angels of incidence

A Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation was developed to study the thin film deposition of silicon onto silicon (100), with special attention on the effects of varying the angle of incidence on the morphology of the grown film. The simulation presented in this study is the first experimental-scale, three-dimensional atomic simulation study of thin film deposition which incorporates realistic diffusion and substrate-incident particle interactions (obtained from experimental data). The atomic simulations were performed on length- and time-scales nearly accessible experimentally to enable comparison to real films.; Increased angles of incidence result in a decrease in density of the films, and the formation of a periodic needle-like microstructure which grows into the incident beam. Increased substrate temperatures result in the formation of larger structures. Azimuthal orientation has no effect on film properties, but azimuthal rotation during growth results in the formation of helical and vertical pillar-like features. At extremely high angles of incidence, it is possible to place these features on pre-existing surface structures, such as an atomic step. Experimental comparisons yield good qualitative agreement. Comparisons to silicon systems show promising agreement but require further improvements to the algorithm to create overlap in parameter-space accessible to simulation and experiment.; The simulation technique was further extended to emulate the thin film growth of a system approximating polycrystalline silicon. The deposition procedure was modified to produce material comprised of individual grains, which could be grown on existing grains or nucleated on a heterogeneous substrate. The addition of grains, nor the number of initial grains when growing on pre-existing grains did not significantly affect bulk film properties. The polycrystalline-like system allows calculation of columnar grain growth angles at all angles, allowing comparisons to standard references and theories. Increased angle of incidence causes faster extinction of grains until a steady-state value is reached. When nucleating grains on a heterogeneous substrate, increased substrate temperature resulted in larger grains, and higher angles of incidence resulted in fewer nucleated grains due to non-local shadowing.