Modeling of Nanophase Connectivity in Substance-Void Composite by Oblique Deposition

Abstract

ABSTRACTObliquely vapor deposited thin film is characterized by its unique inclined columnar structure. Recently one of the authors developed thin film optical quarter-wave plate by oblique deposition. SEM observation revealed the inclined columns of ∼10 nm in diameter and ∼3 microns in length. Its birefringence indicates those columns are less closely spaced in the plane of vapor incidence (PVI) than normal to PVI, composing alternatively stacked substance layer (columns laterally connected with each other)-void layer(residual space) nanophase composite with 2–2 connectivity. The growth mechanism of the inclined columnar structure has been successfully explained by the self-shadowing effect in 2D-space computer simulation in PVI. However, the connectivity development perpendicular to PVI is not self-evident. In the present work, we performed simple 3D-space simulation of oblique depositipon and observed substantial feature of the connectivity development and related features on this nanophase structure.