Molecular dynamics study of the effect of titanium ion energy on surface structure during the amorphous TiO2 films deposition

Abstract

This paper has investigated the impact of the incident titanium ion energy on the surface structure formation mechanism and the film properties during the amorphous TiO2 thin film deposition process with the molecular dynamics simulation method. The results show that the increase of film density and the reduction of the surface roughness happen when the energy of incident titanium ions is increased. It is also found that the film growth mode is the Volmer-Weber (island) growth mode under the influence of the surface potential. The effect of surface potential is more significant if the incident ions energy becomes smaller. That will make the Volmer-Weber (island) growth mode promoted and the surface roughness of the deposited films become larger. Conversely, the Volmer-Weber growth mode is inhibited when the incident ion energy is higher. It will be conducive to the formation of more smooth film surface.