Molecular dynamics simulation of epitaxial growth of the Si(001) surface

Molecular beam epitaxy on a Si(100) substrate has been studied using a molecular dynamics method with the Stillinger-Weber model potential. At high substrate temperature, 800 K, well ordered crystalline layers are found to grow underneath an amorphous overlayer of approximately 5 Å thick. A limiting temperature for epitaxial growth is found to be 480 K, below which the growth does not produce ordered layers. When the sample deposited below 480 K is heated up to 800 K and the deposition is started again the original adatoms start to form ordered atomic layers. Thus the collisions of the deposited atoms in addition to the substrate temperature seem to play an essential role in the growth.