ISSN:
1089-7550
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Fully-coherent Si0.7Ge0.3 layers were deposited on Si(001) by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (GS-MBE) from Ge2H6/Si2H6 mixtures in order to probe the effect of steady-state hydrogen coverages θH on surface morphological evolution during the growth of compressively strained films. The layers are grown as a function of thickness t at temperatures, Ts=450–550 °C, for which strain-induced roughening is observed during solid-source MBE (SS-MBE) and deposition from hyperthermal beams. With GS-MBE, we obtain three-dimensional (3D) strain-induced growth mounds in samples deposited at Ts=550 °C for which θH is small, 0.11 monolayer (ML). However, mound formation is dramatically suppressed at 500 °C (θH=0.26 ML) and completely eliminated at 450 °C (θH=0.52 ML). We attribute these large differences in surface morphological evolution primarily to θH(Ts)-induced effects on film growth rates R, adatom diffusion rates Ds, and ascending step-crossing probabilities. GS-MBE Si0.7Ge0.3(001) growth at 450 °C remains two dimensional, with a surface width 〈w〉〈0.15 nm, at all film thicknesses t=11–80 nm, since both R and the rate of mass transport across ascending steps are low. Raising Ts to 500 °C increases R faster than Ds leading to shorter mean surface diffusion lengths and the formation of extremely shallow, rounded growth mounds for which 〈w〉 remains essentially constant at (similar, equals)0.2 nm while the in-plane coherence length 〈d〉 increases from (similar, equals)70 nm at t=14 nm to 162 nm with t=75 nm. The low ascending step crossing probability at 500 °C results in mounds that spread laterally, rather than vertically, due to preferential attachment at the mound edges. At Ts=550 °C, the ascending step crossing probability increases due to both higher thermal activation and lower hydrogen coverages. 〈w〉(t) increases by more than a factor of 10, from 0.13 nm at t=15 nm to 1.9 nm at t=105 nm, while the in-plane coherence length 〈d〉 remains constant at (similar, equals)85 nm. This leads, under the strain driving force, to the formation of self-organized 3D {105}-faceted pyramids at 550 °C which are very similar to those observed during SS-MBE. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1448680
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