  Nobel metals that are deposited on a polymer surface exhibit surface
diffusion and diffusion into the bulk. At the same time the metal atoms tend to
form clusters because their cohesive energy is about two orders of magnitude
higher than the cohesive energy of polymers. To selfconsistently simulate these
coupled processes, we present in this paper a Kinetic Monte Carlo approach.
Using a simple model with diffusion coefficients taken as input parameters
allows us to perform a systematic study of the behavior of a large ensemble of
metal atoms on a polymer surface eventually leading to polymer nanocomposites.
Special emphasis is placed on the cluster growth, cluster size distribution and
the penetration of clusters into the substrate. We also study the influence of
surface defects and analyze how the properties of the resulting material can be
controlled by variation of the deposition rate.
