Modeling of nucleation and growth during vapor condensation on liquid substrates

Abstract

The study investigates the effect of inherent structural properties of liquid substrates on physical vapor-deposited metallic condensates. Due to the limitations in characterizing the atomic structure of different kinds of liquids, quantitative analysis of all the influencing parameters of the liquid substrate is difficult. Real time considered computing simulation is called for to realize the effects of such properties, which gives direct analyzable results. As representatives of physical and chemical properties of substrates, the molecular frequency and adsorption probability (~binding energy) are utilized as the key simulation parameters. Nucleation kinetics represented by conventional equations and an adapted time algorithm are employed to guarantee a correct, comparable and efficient simulation technique. The results show the substrates’ influence on the ‘morphology’ and ‘formation time’ of the film. In particular, the non-uniform morphology and low coverage observed under ‘liquid-substrate conditions’ are in agreement with experimental observations. The method can also be applied for predicting the condensate morphology for various vapor/substrate systems with known conditions.