LOW-TEMPERATURE SILICON AND SI1-XGEX EPITAXY BY RAPID THERMAL CHEMICAL VAPOR-DEPOSITION USING HYDRIDES

Rapid thermal chemical vapour deposition has been used to grow silicon and Si1-xGex structures at low temperature using SiH4 and GeH4 in an H-2 ambient. In this paper, the kinetics of silicon growth is studied between 1000 and 550-degrees-C. The results are shown to be consistent with a model based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood adsorption mechanism. The growth kinetics of the Si1-xGex alloys is determined down to 525-degrees-C and compared with the silicon kinetics. Transmission electron microscopy characterizations show that epitaxial structures without any extended defects are grown at these low temperatures. In the final part, the growth technique is applied to short-period superlattices and we report a 3.2 nm period grown at 550-degrees-C.