A method to grow silicon crystallites on glass

In our laboratory a method has been developed for low temperature growth of silicon on glass from metallic solutions [1]. This technique is based on c reating pointlike nucleation centres using natural coalescence phenomena of the metallic solvent for masking the substrate. Thus, uncontrolled spontan eous nucleation can be avoided and locally defined selective growth of sili con crystallites seeded by the Si saturated metallic solution droplets occu rs. The nucleation of silicon on the substrate surface and the growth of cr ystallites must be initiated and maintained by a steady temperature gradien t. The material transport is governed by a vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechan ism. As a first result of this artificial nucleus selection principle silicon cr ystallites have been grown in dimensions of 10 mu m. Size and distribution of the solvent droplets as well as the morphology of the grown silicon crys tallites have been characterized by SEM and optical microscopy. The crystal lites show good adhesion on glass and are sufficiently regular arranged. Th e focused ion beam (FIB) method followed by X-ray microanalysis has been us ed to identify silicon crystallites still encapsulated by the solution. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.