Self-Organized Microcones Grown on Si Substrate by Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

Self-organized microcones were grown on an n-Si(100) substrate by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. It was found that microcones having a cross section of an isosceles triangle were successfully grown on the Si substrate and that all the microcones had almost the same sizes. From the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), we concluded that the microcones consist of SiC covered with a thin carbon-based material. A model of the growth mechanism of the microcones was derived assuming that thermally assisted field emission and bombardment with ions accelerated by an electric field in the ion sheath of microwave plasma play an important role in the growth of the microcones. The field dependence of emission current from the microcones in vacuum agreed with the Fowler–Nordheim model, which indicates that these microcones can be used as field emission arrays.