Molecular dynamics simulation of energetic Cu 55 clusters deposition on a Fe (0 0 1) surface

The energetic Cu 55 clusters deposition on a Fe (0 0 1) surface was investigated by the molecular dynamics simulation. A many-body potential based on Finnis–Sinclair model is used to describe the interactions among atoms. The clusters with incident energies ranging from 0.5 to 30.0 eV/atom, respectively, are deposited on the substrates with various temperatures (300, 700 and 1000 K). The collective collisions play a dominant role in the interaction between the energetic cluster and the solid surface is demonstrated by analyzing the number of defects in the substrate and the “snapshots” during the deposition process. The energy of the cluster rapidly transfers to the substrate through the collective collisions. Then the atoms in the collision region are activated and get the migration energies to complete their migration and reconstruction. In addition, the effects of the incident energy and substrate temperature on the number of the cluster implantation atoms, the number of defects in the substrate, the spreading index and structure parameter of the cluster are investigated. The results show that the incident energy mainly influences the penetration and diffusion of the cluster, and the number of defects in the substrate and the epitaxial degree of the cluster are affected by both the incident energy and substrate temperature. By the contrast analysis, the moderate incident energy (about 5.0 eV/atom) and the low substrate temperature (300 K) are suited to grow high-quality epitaxial layers.