Early growth of silicon on sapphire. I. Transmission electron microscopy

Abstract

The early growth of Si on (011̄2) -oriented sapphire has been examined by transmission electron microscopy. The Si was deposited at 1000 °C by pyrolyzing silane in H2. The nominal growth rate was 0.4 μm/min. The morphology of the initial Si growth islands was determined after 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, and 3.5 sec of growth. The basic Si orientation is (100) with [01̄1] Si∥[2̄110] Al2O3. Extensive faulting and twinning is observed leading to {221} orientations. These defects apparently form at coalescence sites of adjacent islands. Also present are four {110} orientations occuring as twin-related pairs. The observation of isolated {110} domains indicates that they nucleate on the sapphire independently of the (100) domains. The {110} and (100) domains grow at about the same rate. Eventually, the {110} domains become trapped by the surrounding (100) domains. The volume percentage of the {110} domains is constant with growth time and equals 7% up to coverages of 90%.