Two Dimensional Stochastic Monte Carlo Simulation for Smoothing of Scratched Surface of Aluminum Thin Film at 773 K

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Abstract
In the simulation, deep (0.56 eV) interatomic potential (IAP) based on the heat of evaporation, and shallow (0.12 eV) IAP based on the activation energy of surface migration were tested. As the initial condition, rectangle grooves were scratched on a film surface before smoothing. When the deep IAP was used, artificial and unacceptable stable facets appeared during the simulation, and the surface smoothing process was interrupted. When the shallow IAP was used and the aspect ratio (AR) of the initial surface groove was set at 1.0, the evolution of the surface profile (EOSP) was consistent with that calculated by an analytical diffusion equation. When the initial AR was changed to 2.0, the EOSP became irregular, which agreed with our expectation. The effect of the size of the surface groove was discussed. A comment on the relationship between the present smoothing process and the reflow process, which may be suitable for the formation of interconnections in LSI, is given.