Usage of antimony segregation for selective doping of Si in molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

An original approach to selective doping of Si by antimony (Sb) in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is proposed and verified experimentally. This approach is based on controllable utilization of the effect of Sb segregation. In particular, the sharp dependence of Sb segregation on growth temperature in the range of 300–550 °C is exploited. The growth temperature variations between the kinetically limited and maximum segregation regimes are suggested to be utilized in order to obtain selectively doped structures with abrupt doping profiles. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique allows formation of selectively doped Si:Sb layers, including delta (δ-)doped layers in which Sb concentrations can be varied from 5 × 1015 to 1020 cm−3. The obtained doped structures are shown to have a high crystalline quality and the short-term growth interruptions, which are needed to change the substrate temperature, do not lead to any significant accumulation of background impurities in grown samples. Realization of the proposed approach requires neither too low (<300 °C), nor too high (>600 °C) growth temperatures or any special equipment for the MBE machines.