Atomic assembly during ion-beam assisted growth: Kinetic modeling

Abstract

The influence of an additional bombardment with low-energy ions during conventional molecular beam epitaxy deposition is studied. A model is proposed describing the initial growth stages during conventional molecular beam epitaxy and ion-beam assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The additional bombardment with low-energy ions leads to a transformation of the growth mode from island growth to layer-by-layer growth. In the first stages of film growth, the hyperthermal ion bombardment causes an increasing detachment of atoms from the tops of the growing islands. Based on the model, using simulation by the kinetic-equation method, the size distribution function of growing clusters is calculated. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental results obtained upon the deposition of GaN films.