Abstract
The mechanism of the surface segregation and interdiffusion of Ge on Si(001) during epitaxial growth and annealing was studied using medium-energy ion scattering (MEIS). One monolayer of Ge was grown on Si(001) at 450°C and annealed at 780°C. The Ge was found to redistribute during the very early stages (within 1 min) of the annealing process and remained constant even after annealing at longer periods of time. Therefore, we conclude that the top few layers attain thermal equilibrium in a short period of time, such as less than 1 min. The coverage dependence of Ge distribution in the top few layers was also observed clearly from the surface of Ge deposited on Si(001) at 780°C. This study strongly suggests that the subsurface phenomena should be considered in order to more accurately describe the Si/Ge interface structure.
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