Abstract
Using Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results, we show that for common thin film deposition techniques, such as sputter deposition and chemical vapor deposition, a mound structure can be formed with a characteristic length scale, or “wavelength” , that describes the separation of the mounds. We show that the temporal evolution of is distinctly different from that of the mound size, or lateral correlation length . The formation of a mound structure is due to nonlocal growth effects, such as shadowing, that lead to the breakdown of the self-affinity of the morphology described by the well-established dynamic scaling theory. We show that the wavelength grows as a function of time in a power law form, , where for a wide range of growth conditions, while the mound size grows as , where varies depending on growth conditions.
- Received 8 February 2006
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.146105
©2006 American Physical Society