Deposited Mono-component Cu Metallic Glass: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Abstract In this work, the simulation of the physical vapor deposition process of Cu on amorphous silica substrate was performed. The resultant Cu thin layer is amorphous. In addition, the liquid quenching of Cu from 2000 K to 50 K was simulated with different cooling rates to allow the comparison of Cu metallic glass formation. Copper glasses from the two different processes (PVD and quenching) showed comparable radial distribution functions. However, the Voronoi tessellation analyses revealed different local structures. The Cu glass obtained by PVD process exhibited higher densities and lower potential energies when compared to its melt-quenched counterpart, which resembles the properties of ultrastable glasses.