Crystallinity of Isolated Silicon Epitaxy (ISE) Silicon-on-Insulator Layers

Abstract

ABSTRACTIsolated silicon epitaxy (ISE) is a proven method of producing single crystalline silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material with excellent electrical properties. The presence of the remaining isolated dislocation trails in the epitaxial silicon has led to this investigation of the crystallinity throughout the ISE SOI layer and across the isolated dislocations. The structural perfection of these layers has been examined by defect etching, Nomarski optical microscopy, electron channeling patterns, and with more sensitivity using double crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction and topography. Defect etching reveals the dislocation density within the layers of production ISE SOI material to be ~5×l0 5 /cm2. Electron channeling pattern techniques have reached the resolution limit of angular orientation resolution for the isolated silicon layer. Finally, synchrotron studies have shown that orientation homogeneity across 5" wafers are preserved to 0.006° and the variation in orientation across the defect trails to be, in general, less than 10 arcsec (0.003°), indicating single crystalline ISE SOI production material.