Hostname: page-component-5f56664f6-tkglf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-07T09:36:30.290Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Surface Cusp Formation in Si Homoepitaxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

J.-M. Baribeau ,
X. Wu ,
M. Beaulieu ,
D.J. Lockwood  and
N.L. Rowell
J.-M. Baribeau
Affiliation:
Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, K1 A 0R6, Canada
X. Wu
Affiliation:
Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, K1 A 0R6, Canada
M. Beaulieu
Affiliation:
Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, K1 A 0R6, Canada
D.J. Lockwood
Affiliation:
Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, K1 A 0R6, Canada
N.L. Rowell
Affiliation:
Institute for National Measurements Standard, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, K1 A 0R6, Canada
Get access

Abstract

We report a study of the surface morphology and microstructure of Si epitaxial layers grown by MBE on (001) Si at temperatures at which epitaxy breakdown is observed. For films grown in the 400 - 450 °C temperature range the epitaxy breakdown is very sluggish and characterized by a columnar growth and the formation of surface cusps. We have used atomic force microscopy to study the shape, size and distribution of those surface cusps. Surface cusps are of square shape with sides predominantly oriented along <110> directions and are typically of 50 nm size and 5 nm depth. The cusps can be very regular in size and their surface density (typically of 109-1010 cm-2) is dependent on the growth temperature. The epitaxial Si in this temperature regime exhibits a residual strain of the order of -5 × 10−5 in the growth direction. Photoluminescence (PL) from cusped Si films is characterized by a broad PL at low energy possibly due to impurities incorporation at low growth temperatures. We have observed that Ge self-assembled dots can be grown on cusped surfaces. Large area AFM measurements reveal that surface cusps are “decorated” by clusters of large dome-like Ge dots, while a lower density of smaller dome and pyramid shape islands are seen away from the cusps.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 832: Symposium F – Group IV Semiconductor Nanostructures , 2004 , F10.18
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

1. Chen, H., Guo, L. W., Cui, Q., Hu, Q., Huang, Q. and Zhou, J. M., J. Appl. Phys. 79, 1167 (1996).Google Scholar
2. Luo, Y. H., Wan, J., Forrest, R. L., Liu, J. L., Jin, G., Goorsky, M. S. and Wang, K. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 454 (2001).Google Scholar
3. Jorke, H., Kibbel, H., Schäffler, F. and Herzog, H.-J., Thin Solid Films 83, 309 (1989).Google Scholar
4. Eaglesham, D. J., Gossmann, H.-J. and Cerullo, M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1227 (1990).Google Scholar
5. Baribeau, J.-M., Wu, X., Lockwood, D. J., Tay, L. and Sproule, G. I., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 22, 1479 (2004).Google Scholar
6. Perovic, D. D., Weatherly, G. C., Simpson, P. J., Schultz, P. J., Jackman, T. E., Aers, G. C., Noël, J.-P. and Houghton, D. C., Phys. Rev. B 43, 14257 (1991).Google Scholar
7. Schelling, C., Springholz, G. and Schäffler, F., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 995 (1999).Google Scholar
8. Bratland, K. A., Foo, Y. L., Soares, J. A. N. T., Spila, T., Desjardins, P. and Greene, J. E., Phys. Rev. B 67, 125322 (2003).Google Scholar
9. Gao, H., J. Mech. Phys. Solids 42, 741 (1994).Google Scholar
10. Schimschak, M. and Krug, J., Phys. Rev. B 52, 8550 (1995).Google Scholar
11. Politi, P., J. Phys. I 7, 797 (1997).Google Scholar
12. Lockwood, D. J. and Baribeau, J.-M., Phys. Rev. B 45, 8565 (1992).Google Scholar
13. Jesson, D., in Morphological Organization in Epitaxial Growth and Removal edited by Zhang, Z. and Lagally, M. G., (World Scientific Publishing 14, London, 1998) pp. 195–212.Google Scholar
14. Jesson, D. E., Pennycook, S. J., Baribeau, J.-M. and Houghton, D. C., Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1744 (1993).Google Scholar