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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
Classical Molecular dynamics simulation of silicon cluster growth (up to 1000 atoms) have been conducted using the Stillinger-Weber 3-body interaction potential. The cluster binding energy has been fit to an expression that separates the surface and bulk contribution to the energy over a wide temperature and size range. Cluster growth simulations show that large heat release results from new bond formation at gas kinetic rates (i.e. sticking coefficient = unity). Temperature was found to be the primary controlling process parameter in the evolution of cluster morphology from an aggregate to a coalesced cluster below 1000 K, with the impact parameter playing a secondary role.