Lateral solid phase epitaxy of amorphous Si films on Si substrates with SiO2 patterns

Abstract

Lateral solid phase epitaxy of amorphous Si films vacuum evaporated on Si substrates with SiO2 patterns has been investigated, in which the films first grow vertically in the region directly contacted to the Si substrates and then grow laterally onto SiO2 patterns. It was found from transmission electron microscopy and Nomarski optical microscopy that the lateral growth occurred in dense amorphous Si films formed by evaporation on heated substrates and subsequent amorphization by Si+ ion implantation, but it hardly occurred in porous films deposited at room temperature. The maximum length of the epitaxial film on SiO2 was about 6 μm after 10-h annealing at 600 °C.