Abstract
In this article we describe a method for direct epitaxial growth of thin-film structures using a combination of resistless electron beam lithography and supersonic molecular beam epitaxy. Electron beam irradiation of a surface hydride layer on silicon induces hydrogen desorption and hence alters the surface reactivity of the exposed area. Introduction of a source gas concurrently with, or immediately following electron beam exposure results in a pattern formation on the exposed area. Continuous silicon oxide patterns with linewidths below 0.1 μm have been achieved. The resulting pattern can be also used as a mask for subsequent selective growth on the unexposed area. Supersonic molecular beam epitaxy is a highly nonequilibrium film growth method that uses translationally hot source gas species generated by a high pressure gas expansion. Since the reactivity of the source gas molecules depends exponentially on the incident kinetic energy, the chemical selectivity of the film growth process can be altered by tuning the incident kinetic energy. Arbitrary patterns with linewidths on the order of 0.1 μm have been achieved with Si, Ge, and SiC epitaxy on Si (100) and Si epitaxy on Ge (100).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2934-2939 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1997 |