SILICON EPITAXIAL-GROWTH AT 300-DEGREES-C BY PLASMA-ENHANCED CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION FROM SIH4 H2/

This letter presents structural properties of silicon epitaxy grown at 300-degrees-C by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from SiH4/ H-2. The ratio of H-2 to SiH4 flow rate and rf power of plasma was fou nd to play an important role for epitaxial growth. The base pressure o f the chamber was greater than 3 X 10(-6) Torr. The substrates were ex situ cleaned by the spin-etch method prior to wafer loading. A H-2 ba king step was carried out prior to epitaxial deposition. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy were used to inspect the quality of Si films. The thickness of the sil icon epitaxy is about 0.3 mum, which is grown at a rate of 5.6 nm/min.