Energy-Dispersive Grazing Incidence Diffraction with Synchrotron Radiation White X-Rays of Very Thin Polycrystalline Silicon Films

Abstract

The precise alignment of the substrate-orientation in an energy-dispersive grazing incidence diffraction measurement with synchrotron-radiation white X-rays is used in the analysis of orientations of 50- to 10000-Å-thick low-pressure chemical-vapor deposited polycrystalline Si films on amorphous SiO2 layers. The results reveal characteristic growth modes where the preferred orientation of grains is suppressed in the thickness range from 100 to 1000 Å, and where the orientation is determined by the effect of the initial island growth mode (i.e., the Volmer-Weber mode) when the thickness is less than 100 Å.