Role of Relaxation in Epitaxial Growth: A Molecular-Dynamics Study

Abstract
The epitaxial growth of a Lennard-Jones system is studied as a function of substrate temperature Ts and deposition rate. For all substrate temperatures the growth is into well-ordered layers. Layers become fully completed at intermediate Ts. At very low Ts the layers contain defects and voids; however, the atoms are still arranged in close-packed islands within the layers.