Step bunching and step “rotation” in homoepitaxial growth of Si on Si(110)-16 × 2

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Kinetics of the step flow growth on the (16 × 2) reconstructed Si(110) surface has been studied experimentally and with computer simulations. It is shown that during Si growth under DC heating vicinal steps on the (16 × 2) reconstructed Si(110) surfaces undergo a kinetic step bunching and develop extended segments preferentially oriented along the (16 × 2) reconstruction domains. The final step configuration depends crucially on the direction of the applied electric field. In particular, when DC is applied in the [ 1 1 ¯ 2 ] direction, an array of straight multisteps parallel to the current direction and rotated in respect to the original orientation of the vicinal steps can be fabricated. Surprisingly, the observed step transformations are not affected by the polarity of the applied electrical field. Using a simple model of the Si/Si(110)-(16 × 2) growth and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations we show that the step bunching and step rotation on Si(110)-(16 × 2) might be induced by an incoherent matching of the (16 × 2) reconstruction domains across the vicinal steps on the surface.