Monte Carlo simulations of morphological transitions in PbTe/CdTe immiscible material systems

The crystal growth of the immiscible PbTe/CdTe multilayer system is analyzed as an example of a self-organizing process. The immiscibility of the constituents leads to the observed morphological transformations such as an anisotropy driven formation of quantum dots and nanowires and to a phase separ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2016-09, Vol.120 (12)
Main Authors: Mińkowski, Marcin, Załuska-Kotur, Magdalena A., Turski, Łukasz A., Karczewski, Grzegorz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Applied physics
Computer simulation
Crystal growth
Diffusion
Intermetallic compounds
Lead tellurides
Miscibility
Monte Carlo simulation
Morphology
Multilayers
Nanowires
Phase separation
Quantum dots
Surface diffusion
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Summary:The crystal growth of the immiscible PbTe/CdTe multilayer system is analyzed as an example of a self-organizing process. The immiscibility of the constituents leads to the observed morphological transformations such as an anisotropy driven formation of quantum dots and nanowires and to a phase separation at the highest temperatures. The proposed model accomplishes a bulk and surface diffusion together with an anisotropic mobility of the material components. We analyze its properties by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and show that it is able to reproduce all of the structures observed experimentally during the process of the PbTe/CdTe growth. We show that all of the dynamical processes studied play an important role in the creation of zero-, one-, two-, and, finally, three-dimensional structures. The shape of the structures that are grown is different for relatively thick multilayers, when the bulk diffusion cooperates with the anisotropic mobility, as compared to the annealed structures for which only the isotropic bulk diffusion decides about the process. Finally, it is different again for thin multilayers when the surface diffusion is the most decisive factor. We compare our results with the experimentally grown systems and show that the proposed model explains the diversity of observed structures.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.4962974