Mechanisms governing the aluminum-mediated solid-phase epitaxy of Si on patterned crystalline Si substrates have been identified by studying the deposited material as a function of growth conditions when varying parameters such as temperature, growth time, and layer-stack properties. Early growth stages can be discerned as first formation of “free” Si at the Al/α-Si interface, then diffusion of Si along the Al grain boundaries, nucleation at the Si substrate surface, nuclei rearrangement, and finally crystal growth. The acquired understanding is applied to control the selectivity and completeness of single-crystal growth in various sizes of contact windows to the Si substrate.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the staff of the DIMES-ICP cleanrooms for their continual support. G. Vastola also acknowledges fruitful discussions with Prof. L. Miglio and F. Montalenti. This research is supported by the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (Stichting FOM) and performed in cooperation with the EU-FP6 project D-DotFET.
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Civale, Y., Vastola, G., Nanver, L.K. et al. On the Mechanisms Governing Aluminum-Mediated Solid-Phase Epitaxy of Silicon. J. Electron. Mater. 38, 2052–2062 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0877-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0877-1