Ultrasmooth growth of amorphous silicon films through ion-induced long-range surface correlations

Journal Article · Mon Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3535612· OSTI ID:21518233

Redondo-Cubero, A ^[1]; Gago, R; Vazquez, L ^[1]

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1. Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid E-28049 (Spain)

Ultrasmooth amorphous silicon films with a constant roughness below 0.2 nm were produced for film thickness up to {approx}1 {mu}m by magnetron sputtering under negative voltage substrate biasing (100-400 V). In contrast, under unbiased conditions the roughness of the resulting mounded films increased linearly with growth time due to shadowing effects. A detailed analysis of the amorphous film growth dynamics proves that the bias-induced ultrasmoothness is produced by a downhill mass transport process that leads to an extreme surface leveling inducing surface height correlations up to lateral distances close to 0.5 {mu}m.

• OSTI ID: 21518233
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3535612; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AMORPHOUS STATE
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DEPOSITION
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ION BEAMS
IONS
MAGNETRONS
MASS
ROUGHNESS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON
SUBSTRATES
SURFACES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
BEAMS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DIMENSIONS
ELECTRON TUBES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
MATERIALS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
MICROWAVE TUBES
SEMIMETALS
SURFACE PROPERTIES