2009/02/16 by David B. Graves, David B Graves, Pascal Brault
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Amorphous carbon #Amorphous silicon #Amorphous solid #Carbon fibers #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena #Molecular dynamics #Plasma #Plasma Diagnostics and Applications #Silicon #Tetrahedron #physics.comp-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0022-3727/42/19/194011
Manuscript #271801, Accepted in J. Phys. D, November 10th, 2008
arxiv created 2009/02/16 · openalex publication_date 2009/09/18 · arxiv updated 2015/05/12 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The mechanisms of physical and chemical interactions of low temperature plasmas with surfaces can be fruitfully explored using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. MD simulations follow the detailed motion of sets of interacting atoms through integration of atomic equations of motion, using inter-atomic potentials that can account for bond breaking and formation that result when energetic species from the plasma impact surfaces. This paper summarizes the current status of the technique for various applications of low temperature plasmas to material processing technologies. The method is reviewed, and commonly used inter-atomic potentials are described. Special attention is paid to the use of MD in understanding various representative applications, including tetrahedral amorphous carbon film deposition from energetic carbon ions, the interactions of radical species with amorphous hydrogenated silicon films, silicon nanoparticles in plasmas, and plasma etching.