A Novel Crystal Growth Phenomenon: Single Crystal GaAs Overgrowth onto Silicon Dioxide

Abstract

Epitaxial growth of in windows on ‐masked substrates has been studied and found to yield smooth‐surfaced single crystal epitaxial layers. Single crystal overgrowth onto the films, initiating from the windows and growing out laterally over the , has also been observed to occur in many instances. Studies of growth habits and patterns, inspection of cleaved sections, x‐ray studies, and crystallographic considerations have led to a proposed growth mechanism which is not only consistent with the experimental window growth and overgrowth observations, but also indicates that the processes are highly controllable; it has been shown that overgrowth can be virtually inhibited, and it is concluded that with proper mask geometry single crystal overgrowth can occur over large areas almost without restraint.