Abstract: Transition layer is a key factor to improve the film/substrate relationship and increase the quality of the film. In this paper, the epitaxially grown process of Cr, which is a common transition layer material, was simulated using molecular dynamics method. Surface topography, roughness, radial distribution function and adhesion strength was analyzed to study the effect of incident energy on the film quality. The results show that at the initial stage of deposition, the film/substrate interfacial interaction was the main factor affecting the growth mode of the film. As the incident energy increased, the growth mode changed from Frank-Vander Merve to Volmer-Weber. As the deposition process progressed, the film surface roughness gradually raised during low-energy deposition(15-50eV). However, the opposite trend exhibited during high-energy deposition(75eV) because of the etching effect, and the surface roughness decreased gradually. Meanwhile, the film/substrate interface was destroyed by the shallow injection in the lower energy range, which weakened the film/substrate adhesive strength. Further improving the deposition could improve the film/substrate adhesive effect by forming a composition gradient layer. The research results in this paper shows important guiding significance for the thin film deposition process: increasing the incident energy during the deposition process does not meaning a positive effect, and it must be controlled in a suitable energy range.

Key words: incident energy, growth mode, surface roughness, adhesion strength, molecular dynamics