Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyse step effects on the deposition of Ag onto Si by using a molecular dynamics simulation method with classical interatomic potentials. The step element is contained in the vicinal shape of the Si surface and the study is divided into two parts. In the first part a study is made of the reconstruction of vicinal surfaces in Si at room temperature. The structure used in these calculations represents in a simplified form the experimental structure as it has only steps along a given miscut angle and no terraces. The second part is an analysis of the deposition of Ag onto the reconstructed Si surface either of the vicinal or of the singular type. For both reconstruction and deposition a broad investigation has been made on the effects of geometrical parameters and of physical quantities, such as interatomic potentials and heat exchange mechanisms. It has been found that the vicinal Si breaks into a more complicated structure containing many facets. This structure is stable and the stability appears to be inherent. The Ag-Si interface does not show periodic patterns and the Ag film grows by a two-dimensional mode which is similar in the vicinal surface and in the singular surface. However, a distinction between the two structures, either from the structural point of view or from the viewpoint of the electronic configuration, is possible. The more remarkable of these differences is that, similarly to the attachment of adatoms to steps edges, sticking of Ag is favoured if the deposition is onto the vicinal surface. Ag-Si intermixing is possible but does not alter the fundamental two-dimensional nature of the Ag-Si interface.