New cellular automaton designed to simulate epitaxial films growth

Abstract

In this paper a simple (2+1) solid-on-solid model of the epitaxial films growth based on random deposition followed by breaking particle-particle lateral bonds and particles surface diffusion is introduced. The influence of the critical number of the particle-particle lateral bonds z and the deposition rate on the surface roughness dynamics and possible surface morphology anisotropy is presented. The roughness exponent α and the growth exponent β are (0.863, 0.357), (0.215, 0.123), (0.101, 0.0405) and (0.0718, 0.0228) for z = 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively.Snapshots from simulations of the growth process are included.