Silicon epitaxial growth on germanium using an Si2H6 low-pressure chemical vapor deposition technique

Abstract

Heteroepitaxial growth of silicon on a germanium surface at 580–800 °C is investigated using Si2H6/H2 gas low-pressure chemical vapor deposition processing. Crystalline Si grows on the Ge film surfaces at temperatures of 650–730 °C and, by contrast, polycrystalline Si is deposited at low temperatures of 580–630 °C. It is clarified that whether crystalline Si grows on the Ge surface depends only on substrate temperature, not on the Si2 H6 partial pressure (4×10−3–1×10−1 Torr) nor the Si growth rate (3–800 nm/min). The growth rate using Si2 H6 is more than one order higher than the SiH4 case. Its activation energy is 1.4 eV.