Nanocomposite Au-SiO2 thin film deposition by co-sputtering: comparison of experiments with atomistic simulations

Fast atom beam co-sputtering has been found to be an excellent technique for producing metal nanoclusters in variety of matrices without the need of any post-deposition annealing. The films thus prepared show homogeneous distribution of nanoclusters having rather narrow size distributions. The average size of these embedded nanoclusters can be effectively controlled by varying the ratio of sputtered metal and matrix species. In this contribution, we present results from the computer simulation of the deposition process to investigate the structural evolution and growth of Au nanoclusters embedded in silica matrix during co-sputtering. A three dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo technique has been used here to study the growth kinetics of nanoparticles taking into consideration the effect of the energetic sputtered species reaching the surface of the film during deposition. Nucleation and subsequent growth of Au nanoclusters has been simulated under different deposition conditions. As a result, the simulation has been shown to be useful for deposition parameters optimization in the process of nanocomposite thin film growth by fast atom beam co-sputtering.