The main objective of the work presented in this thesis is to
contribute to the understanding of how the growth conditions may
affect the surface morphology during deposition. In thin film
growth physical processes in a very wide range of time and length
scales are relevant. A set of quite different methods of modeling
is required when aiming at a more or less complete realistic
picture of the growth process. Accordingly, both computer
simulations/modeling and analytic calculations were employed in
our studies of thin film growth. In particular, a hybrid
multi-scale model, which combines a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation
for the thermal surface diffusion with a Molecular Dynamics (MD)
simulation of deposition events, was developed and successfully
employed to study Cu/Cu(100) growth at a range of substrate
temperatures and deposition angles. Predictive capabilities of
this model allowed us to explain a number of puzzling experimental
observations.
Another accomplishment presented in this thesis is
an analytic calculation of the surface current and selected mound
angle for the case of epitaxial growth on fcc(111) surface. The
results of this calculation help to understand the morphologies
observed experimentally for a wide range of systems and deposition
conditions.