Atomistic modeling of large-scale metal film growth fronts

Abstract

We present simulations of metallization morphologies under ionized sputter-deposition conditions. By means of molecular-dynamics simulations using a carefully designed interaction potential, we analyze the surface adsorption, reflection, and etching reactions taking place during Al physical vapor deposition, and calculate their relative probabilities. These probabilities are then employed in a feature-scale cellular-automaton simulator, which produces calculated film morphologies in excellent agreement with scanning-electron-microscopy data on ionized sputter deposition.