We have used molecular dynamics simulations based on many body semi-empirical potentials described by the embedded atom method, to analyze and understand the diffusion and coalescence phenomena of Au-clusters during the heteroepitaxial growth on Ag (110) surface. Temperature ranging from 300 to 700 K were considered. In this study, we examined the heterogeneous system Aun/Ag(110), where n is the number of atoms in each cluster/island (with n = 15, ….35). Our results show that the clusters diffuse on the Ag (110) surface via different diffusion processes, namely, the exchange mechanism and the simple jump, which generate a 2D to 3D transition. Formation and adsorption energies of clusters with different sizes have been computed using static simulations. The dynamic study of coalescence for two islands of system Au15; Au0 - 9/Ag(110) at different temperatures makes it possible to deduce the detail of cluster shape and the influence of its temperature on the stability of the system and its growth during this evolution.
Keywords: Adatom diffusion; Coalescence; Island shape transition; Molecular dynamics simulation.