Chapter 4 - Gas phase and surface kinetics of silicon chemical vapor deposition from silane and chlorosilanes

Abstract

This chapter discusses the gas phase and surface chemistry of the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) of epitaxial silicon. CVD is an important industrial process in the manufacture of thick and thin solid films of advanced electronic and photonic materials. This chapter describes a general procedure for building a detailed kinetic scheme consisting of elementary reactions. This chapter reviews the experimental and theoretical methods that can be adopted for determining the values of the kinetic constants for gas phase and surface processes. The aim of this chapter is to describe the methodology that is adopted to extract the detailed kinetic information required for designing new deposition apparatuses, and for optimizing the existing ones. This chapter discusses two kinetic schemes: (1) one dealing with silane precursors, and (2) the other with chlorosilanes. This chapter further addresses the surface and gas phase chemistry of deposition of silane from chlorosilane precursors. It deals with both the experimental and the theoretical aspects of the chlorosilane chemistry.