THE KINETICS OF VERY-LOW TEMPERATURE (SIMILAR-TO-300-DEGREES-C) SILICON EPITAXIAL-GROWTH BY CONFINED PLASMA-ENHANCED CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION

The kinetics of very-low-temperature silicon epitaxial growth on p-typ e, [100] Si wafers by confined plasma enhanced chemical vapor depositi on (PECVD) from mixtures of SiH4 and H-2 is studied. The results show that no effect due to temperature (288 similar to 351 degrees C) on th e growth rate could be observed. At a plasma power of 5 W, the P-SiH4/ P-H2 ratio can be as high as 2.7. The growth rate is inversely proport ional to the H-2 pressure, and proportional to the silane pressure and the RF power. The mechanism of silicon epitaxial growth by confined P ECVD is presented and the release of hydrogen from adsorbed SiHx (x = 2,3) seems to be the rate-determining step. It is found that a single Langmuir-Hinshelwood rate expression correlates all rate data with RF powers and pressures of silane and hydrogen.