Growth-induced atomic step ordering on patterned and non-patterned Si(111)

Abstract

Atomic step configurations on the vicinal surfaces of patterned and non-patterned Si(111) during homoepitaxial step-flow growth were studied as a function of film thickness, deposition temperature, deposition rate, and substrate miscut. We found, for the first time, that step-flow growth on the vicinal surfaces of Si(111) miscut toward the [11 2 ̄ ] direction results in the formation of collective, in-phase zigzag arrays of [2 11 ]- and [1̄21̄]-type steps. We also found that step-flow growth on the lower-level region around the edge of Si(111) mesa ridges significantly improves period uniformity. We explained the shape of atomic steps on the basis of the stability of surface reconstruction on Si(111), and the atomic step ordering on the assumption of the anisotropic barrier for diffusion at the growing steps.