Revision of single atom local density and capture number varying with coverage in uniform depletion approximation and its effect on coalescence and number of stable clusters

Abstract

In vapour deposition, single atoms (adatoms) on the substrate surface are the main source of growth. The change in its density plays a decisive role in the growth of thin films and quantum size islands. In the nucleation and cluster coalescence stages of vapour deposition, the growth of stable clusters occurs on the substrate surface covered by stable clusters. Nucleation occurs in the non-covered part, while the total area covered by stable clusters on the substrate surface will gradually increase. Carefully taking into account the coverage effect, a revised single atom density rate equation is given for the famous and widely used thin-film rate equation theory, but the work of solving the revised equation has not been done. In this paper, we solve the equation and obtain the single-atom density and capture number by using a uniform depletion approximation. We determine that the single atom density is much lower than that evaluated from the single atom density rate equation in the traditional rate equation theory when the stable cluster coverage fraction is large, and it goes down very fast with an increase in the coverage fraction. The revised equation gives a higher value for the ‘average’ capture number than the present equation. It also increases with increasing coverage. That makes the preparation of single crystalline thin film materials difficult and the size control of quantum size islands complicated. We also discuss the effect of the revision on coalescence and the number of stable clusters in vapour deposition.