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Heterogeneous nucleation of pits via step pinning during Si(100) homoepitaxy [electronic resource].

Published
Washington, D.C. : United States. National Nuclear Security Administration, 2017.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Physical Description
Article numbers 113,023 : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators
Sandia National Laboratories, United States. National Nuclear Security Administration, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
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Summary
Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we investigate oxide-induced growth pits in Si thin films deposited by molecular beam epitaxy. In the transition temperature range from 2D adatom islanding to step-flow growth, systematic controlled air leaks into the growth chamber induce pits in the growth surface. We show that pits are also correlated with oxygen-contaminated flux from Si sublimation sources. From a thermodynamic standpoint, multilayer growth pits are unexpected in relaxed homoepitaxial growth, whereas oxidation is a known cause for step-pinning, roughening, and faceting on elemental surfaces, both with and without growth flux. Not surprisingly, pits are thermodynamically metastable and heal by annealing to recover a smooth periodic step arrangement. STM reveals new details about the pits' atomistic origins and growth dynamics. Here, we give a model for heterogeneous nucleation of pits by preferential adsorption of Å-sized oxide nuclei at intrinsic growth antiphase boundaries, and subsequent step pinning and bunching around the nuclei.
Report Numbers
E 1.99:sand--2017-11273j
sand--2017-11273j
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Note
Published through SciTech Connect.
10/16/2017.
"sand--2017-11273j"
"657902"
New Journal of Physics 19 ISSN 1367-2630 AM
Esmeralda Yitamben; Robert E. Butera; Brian S. Swartzentruber; Robert J. Simonson; Shashank Misra; Malcolm S. Carroll; Ezra Bussmann.
Funding Information
AC04-94AL85000
View MARC record | catkey: 24057375