The growth progress of Nb films on Cu: a molecular dynamics simulation

Background Superconductive Nb films deposited on copper cavities has been widely studied, but simulation studies on the growth of Nb films have rarely been reported in the literature.
Methods In this study, effects of Nb atom incidence energy, incidence angle and deposition temperature on Nb film growth were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations.
Results It was found that for the growth of Nb films, a moderate increased the incidence energy of Nb atoms can attenuate the shadow effect, and both too high and too low incident energy are not conducive to the production of high quality Nb films, and the substrate temperature mainly affects the quality of the crystal structure of Nb films.
Conclusion In a word, Nb atoms with higher incidence energy (i.e. 10 eV) deposited vertically on Cu substrates at 473.15 K are more favorable for the growth of Nb films with lower surface roughness, higher crystallinity and fewer defects, providing an important reference for the preparation of high quality superconductive Nb films on SRF cavities.