Modeling thermal effects in the droplet assembly of nanoscale molten metal films*

The focus of this talk is the accurate modeling of thermal effects in nanoscale liquid metal films that are deposited on thermally conductive substrates, melted by an external heat source, and dewet into droplet patterns. Using asymptotic analysis we develop a novel model that accurately portrays heat conduction in the liquid film and such effects as temperature varying material parameters and phase changes. In particular, we analyze the effect the underlying substrate has on the evolution of the liquid film. By developing a 3D GPU code that solves the underlying partial differential equations we are able to simulate both film evolution and heat conduction on large domains. We find that many effects, such as temperature varying viscosity, strongly influence the dewetting mechanism of the film and, in many instances, leads to interesting frozen film patterns.