Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the growth of metal clusters on regular array of defects on insulator

A Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the nucleation and growth of Pd clusters on a nanostructured alumina substrate is presented. The new Monte Carlo simulation program allows to derive the 3D shape of the growing clusters without performing a full all atoms simulation. The simulation shows, like in previous pure 2D simulations, that clusters nucleate exclusively on the defects of the nanostructure in a limited range of substrate temperature. Around 300 K, the clusters have a compact faceted shape and they grow, at not too large coverage, layer by layer. These results are in agreement with previous studies of the nucleation and growth of Pd clusters on an ultrathin alumina film on Ni₃Al (1 1 1).