R. Nuryadi et al., Formation and ordering of self-assembled Si islands by ultrahigh vacuum annealing of ultrathin bonded silicon-on-insulator structure, APPL SURF S, 159, 2000, pp. 121-126
Thermal agglomeration of Si in an ultrathin (< 10 nm) bonded silicon-on-ins
ulator (SOI) wafer was studied by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
(XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that annealing in an
ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) causes the formation of square-shaped holes whose s
ides are parallel to the (011) directions. Within the hole, single-crystall
ine Si islands are densely formed on the buried SiO2 with an ordered alignm
ent in the (013) directions. The lateral size and the height of a typical i
sland near the center of the hole are about 500 and 70 nm, respectively, an
d the island is surrounded by facets of {111}, {113} and {100} crystal plan
es. The initial process of hole opening and island formation is discussed.
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