Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
The interaction of SiO radicals from a SiCl4/O2 plasma with the surface of a depositing thin film is studied with the IRIS (Imaging of Radicals Interacting with Surfaces) technique, which combines spatially-resolved laser-induced fluorescence with molecular beam methods. In contrast to previous results for SiH, SiO appears not to react at the surface of the depositing film, but desorbs with a cosine spatial distribution for a wide range of substrate temperatures. No evidence is observed for specular scattering of the molecules.