An atomic-scale study of hydrogenated silicon cluster deposition on a crystalline silicon surface

Controlled deposition of clusters on solid surfaces has attracted lots of attention in recent years, because of its potential application to tailoring the desired electronic properties of the resulting surfaces. We have carried out an atomic-scale study to understand the deposition mechanism. The molecular dynamics approach based on a modified Tersoff potential is used to simulate the deposition mechanism of hydrogenated silicon clusters on a crystalline silicon surface in detail. The important factors governing the deposition process such as impact energy and substrate temperature, are investigated for the hydrogenated silicon cluster Si29H24 on a H-terminated Si(100)-(2x1) surface.