Orientation and morphology of solid-state dewetting holes

Abstract

We report on the orientation and morphology of solid-state dewetting holes obtained from a kinetic Monte Carlo model with nearest neighbor and next nearest neighbor interactions on a cubic lattice. The morphologies found in simulations share strong similarities with those of diffusion-limited crystal growth: We find compact shapes, isotropic and anisotropic seaweed shapes, and dendritic shapes. Some of these shapes have been observed in solid-state dewetting experiments with various semi-conductors or metals on insulating substrates. The sides of the fingers can exhibit two types of zigzag instabilities with ${90}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ or ${45}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$. Due to fourfold symmetry, dewetting hole shapes are found to exhibit two possible orientations with fingers along the (110) or (100) directions. We find that the rotation transition from one orientation to the other can be observed in our model by varying anisotropy, temperature, or dewetting strength. The two orientations correspond, respectively, to experimental observations of dewetting for silicon and germanium on insulator and to the dewetting of metal films with different reducing gas flow rate.