Molecular dynamics study of anisotropic growth of silicon**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51361022, 51561022, and 61464007) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20151BAB206001).

Abstract

Based on the Tersoff potential, molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to investigate the kinetic coefficients and growth velocities of Si (100), (110), (111), and (112) planes. The sequences of the kinetic coefficients and growth velocities are μ(100) > μ(110) > μ(112) > μ(111) and v(100) > v(110) > v(112) > v(111), respectively, which are not consistent with the sequences of the interface energies, interplanar spacings, and melting points of the four planes. However, they agree well with the sequences of the distributions and diffusion coefficients of the melting atoms near the solid–liquid interfaces. It indicates that the atomic distributions and diffusion coefficients affected by the crystal orientations determine the anisotropic growth of silicon. The formation of stacking fault structure will further decrease the growth velocity of the Si (111) plane.