Low temperature, high growth rate epitaxial silicon and silicon germanium alloy films

Epitaxial growth of silicon and silicon germanium alloy films on Si(1 0 0) substrates in an ASM Epsilon ® single wafer reactor system using trisilane and germane has been investigated. The results obtained reveal that it is possible to achieve epitaxial silicon and silicon germanium growth rates at 630 °C and below that are substantially higher than those possible using silane, while maintaining high quality crystalline structure. The films grown were characterized using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), high resolution X-Ray diffraction (HR-XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM).