Eur. Phys. J. D 7, 595-599 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050386

Impact induced adsorption of C₂₀ on silicon (001) surface

¹ State Key Laboratory for Material Modification by laser, ion and electron beams, Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China
² Ion beam laboratory, Shanghai Institute of Metallurgy, Academia Sinica, Shanghai, P.R. China
³ CCAST, World Laboratory, P.O. Box 8730, Beijing 100080, P.R. China

Corresponding author: ^a hoyk@fudan.ac.cn

Received: 12 March 1999
Revised: 20 May 1999
Published online: 15 December 1999

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the adsorption of a low-energy C₂₀ on a reconstructed silicon (001)-() surface. The impact energies of the C₂₀ fullerene range from 1 eV/atom to 5 eV/atom. After impacting, the C₂₀ molecule is found to move along (011) direction and resides either in the trough or on the dimer at the end of our simulations. The lateral motion of C₂₀ on the surface is dependent on its incident energy. Chemical bonds are formed between C₂₀ and the surface. By the force field analysis, we show that the anisotropic molecule-surface interaction plays the leading role in the lateral motion of C₂₀ as well as its preferable adsorption sites on the dimerized Si surface. These findings are consistent with experimental observations of C₆₀ on Si (001) surface and small carbon clusters on solid surfaces.