Molecular dynamics simulations of the laser ablation of silicon with the thermal spike model

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this work is to model laser ablation of silicon on an atomistic scale in combination with a mesoscale model for the description of the electron-phonon interaction and an electron-temperature dependent interaction potential. The well-known continuum two-temperature model (TTM) for solids with highly excited electrons is extended from metals to silicon by explicitly taking charge carrier transport effects into account (nTTM). This is accomplished by the drift-diffusion limit of the Boltzmann-transport equation leading to the so called thermal-spike model (TSM). The model is further enhanced by extending the static modified Tersoff potential to a dynamical carrier excitation dependent interaction potential. We compare the TSM and nTTM with regard to physical correctness, numerical stability and applicability in the context of large-scale massive parallel high performance computing.