Silicon atomic layer growth controlled by flash heating in chemical vapor deposition using SiH4 gas

Abstract

The separation between surface adsorption and reaction of SiH4 on a Si substrate has been investigated by heating the surface with a Xe flash lamp in an ultraclean low-pressure environment. About 0.4 atomic-layer epitaxy per flash-lamp light shot was observed on Si(100) at a substrate temperature of 385 °C and at SiH4 partial pressure of 500 Pa. The dependencies of SiH4 surface coverage on the SiH4 partial pressure and shot-to-shot time interval are expressed by the Langmuir adsorption type equation, assuming that the total adsorption site density is equal to the surface atom density.