Effect of Growth Rate on Stacking-Fault Density in Epitaxial Silicon Layers

Abstract

The growth rate of an epitaxial silicon deposit affects the stacking-fault density of the deposited layer in a linear manner over the deposition range of 0.1 to 1.0 μ/min. The stacking-fault density is also inversely related to the substrate dislocation density for dislocation densities up to 5×103 cm−2. The conditions for the formation of stacking faults, as described by various authors to date, seem sufficient but not necessary for fault formation. The present work supports a vacancy condensation mechanism by which the low stacking-fault energy of the material creates a natural condensation of vacancies into stacking faults.