SIMULATION OF LAYER BY LAYER GROWTH OF FRACTAL METAL Pt-Rh FILMS

Abstract

In this work, the molecular dynamics method and the tight-binding potential are used to simulate the process of molecular beam epitaxy in order to determine the regularities in the formation of fractal platinum metal films on the rhodium surface. The possibility of formation of fractal structures both in island platinum films on the rhodium surface and in a continuous film has been established. The parameters of the computer experiment, which determine the transition from individual island films to a continuous film in the indicated system, have been established. Using various software products Gwyddion and Image Analysis, as well as our own software FractalSurface, the range of changes in the fractal dimension has been analyzed under various conditions of a molecular dynamics experiment by the method of cube counting. The obtained values of the fractal dimension are generally in acceptable agreement with each other; however, there is a number of exceptions, which are discussed in more detail. A comparative analysis of the results obtained allows one to formulate recommendations for the methodology for creating, adjusting and precision control when «growing» structures with a given surface morphology.

Keywords

• molecular beam epitaxy
• molecular dynamics modeling
• tight-binding potential
• fractal dimension
• cube counting
• platinum
• rhodium
• imaging software