Epitaxial film thickness in the low-temperature growth of Si(100) by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The limiting epitaxial thickness of Si films grown at a low substrate temperature by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition has been determined. The specific process used was electron cyclotron resonance plasma deposition. The Limiting epitaxial thickness was found to decrease with the ratio of energetic ion-to-adatom arrivals on the substrate surface; The measured epitaxial thicknesses are similar to those obtained in previous investigations using molecular beam epitaxy. Hydrogen surface coverage does not appear to be a factor in limiting epitaxial thickness. The maximum epitaxial thickness remains to be determined for this process and substrate temperature range. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.