Institute of Metals Division - The Topography and Growth Mechanism of Silicon Over-growths

Silicon films have been grown by chemical reaction on (111) silicon substrates. The surfaces were examined by various microscopic and interfero-metric methods. Surface structures are classified into two groups depending on whether the angles between the bounding planes and the (111) surface are small (<3 deg) or large (> I0 deg). A layer-gvowth mechanism is postulated to explain the topography and the influence of growth parameters. Growth proceeds by lateral expansion of the (111) layers in (211) directions, thereby forming steps. The step edges are perpendicular to the direction of expansion and are thus along (110) directions. Step bunching md surface nucleation both play an important role in modifying the flow pattern and in the step regeneration. These are influenced ver?) much by impurities, especially oxygen. Although the growth is a result of a surface-controlled ga: reaction, it is very similar to growth from an impure solution. OVERGROWTH ("epitaxial growth") of silicon is important and widely used. During the past years several investigators have observed various topographical features or so-called faults on the grown films. A study of the surface morphology gives some insight into the growth mechanism. I) EXPERIMENTAL Silicon films have been grown on silicon substrates by a method described by Theuerer.&apos; Silicon is formed by reduction of SiCl, in hydrogen. The rate of incidence of SiC1, was varied between 5 x 10"6 and 2 x 10&apos;4 moles min-&apos; cm-&apos;. The mole fraction of Sic4 in the Hz-SiCL mixture was about 5 x X Both the rate of incidence and the mole fraction were calculated on the assumption that the Hz bubbling through the SiC1, reached equilibrium saturation. Assuming uniform velocity distribution, the linear velocity of the gas in the reactor tube was estimated to be 2 cm sec-l. The temperature of deposition was varied between 1070" and 1260°C. Chemically polished p-type silicon wafers of 20 to 100 ohm cm resistivity were used as substrates. These were within 1/2 deg of a (111) orientation. The thickness of the grown n-type film was determined by two methods: a) measurement of the depth of the p-n junction taking into account the junction shift due to diffusion, b) measurement of the traces of stacking-fault tetrahedra on the (111) plane.&apos; The agreement between the two methods was better than 20 pct. The rate of growth varied between 0.2 and 4.0 pmin-&apos;. The formed films were examined by reflection and light-section microscopy, and by multiple-beam interferometry. Phase-contrast illumination revealed height differences of about 30A. For measuring heights greater than 1 p a light-section microscope3 was used. The resolution by multipke-beam interferometry4 was between 50 and 100A. Crystallographic directions on the surface were determined by X-ray and from the orientation of etch pits and stacking faults as revealed by Dash etch (I part HI?, 3 parts HNOJ, and 12 parts CH3COOH). Some specimens have been investigated by electron microscopy. Platinum-shadowing and carbon-replica techniques were used to show the fine topography and reflection diffraction to determine the structure of the grown layers. 11) RESULTS The topographical features can be classified into three groups. he first group is comprised of fine ridges (striations). The second group consists of structures, which are bounded by planes making angles of less than 3 deg with the (111) surface. They are, therefore, vicinal planes. Structures which closely resemble growth or etch pyramids from the third group would normally be bounded by perfect low-index crystallographic planes. In this case they are deformed. The angles between the bounding planes and the (111) surface are generally larger than 10 deg. The fine ridges are present, even on the smoothest surfaces, as shown in Fig. 1. They are along a (110) direction. The height differences could not be resolved with interferometric techniques. The basic characteristic structures of the second group are depressions and hillocks. These are bounded by three planes, two of them with larger slopes than the third one. The edges between the planes, as projected to the (111) surface, point in (211) directions. Various habits of these structures are shown