A NEW APPROACH TO SIMULATE THE MORPHOLOGY OF THIN-FILMS

We propose a new kinetic growth model to describe the condensation process of thin metallic films. The model is based on attractive short-range interactions between condensed atoms and takes into account all possible growth processes considered earlier in the so-called rate equation approach. The consequences of the model are simply worked out by Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the morphologies of the films generated by the simulations are in excellent agreement with experimentally grown gold films, demonstrating the reliability of the model.