The silicon epitaxial growth behaviour was studied as an application of the parallel-Langmuir process using SiH2Cl2 gas and SiH3CH3 gas. The SiH3CH3 gas was used for in situ producing the SiHx gas by thermal decomposition in the reactor. With the increasing gas concentration of SiH3CH3, several results were obtained, such as (i) the silicon epitaxial growth rate increased exceeding the value saturated using the SiH2Cl2, (ii) the gas phase concentrations of the chlorosilanes at the exhaust decreased, (iii) the byproduct deposition at the exhaust decreased, and (iv) the gas phase concentration of HCl at the exhaust decreased. As a conclusion, the SiHx helped consuming the SiH2Cl2 gas for producing a silicon epitaxial film with reducing the byproduct deposition. Additionally, the SiHx might produce SiH2Cl2 in the gas phase by the reaction with the HCl gas.
A silicon epitaxial growth process in a trichlorosilane-hydrogen system was evaluated using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) placed at the exhaust of a chemical vapor deposition reactor designed for the Minimal Fab. The QCM showed two types of the frequency decrease behaviors, that is, i) a quick shift due to the gas property change caused by the trichlorosilane gas introduction into the ambient hydrogen and ii) the continuous and gradual decrease due to the byproduct deposition on the QCM surface during the silicon epitaxial growth. Because both i) and ii) showed a relationship with the silicon epitaxial growth rate, the in-situ information obtained by the QCM was expected for the real time monitoring of the film deposition process.
A boron-silicon film was formed by chemical vapor deposition at 800 °C and atmospheric pressure using boron trichloride, dichlorosilane and monomethylsilane gases. With the increasing boron trichloride gas flow rate at the fixed dichlorosilane gas flow rate, the deposition rate and the boron concentration decreased and saturated, respectively, following the rate theory assuming the Langmuir-type model. The obtained film was amorphous and dense without any voids. The monomethylsilane and the silicon hydrides, produced by the thermal decomposition of the monomethylsilane gas, were considered to help decomposing the intermediate boron species at the surface. The boron concentrations of 20%–40%, significantly greater than the solubility in the crystalline silicon, were concluded to be obtained using the boron trichloride gas.
Effective process conditions to utilize a slim vertical silicon chemical vapour deposition reactor were studied. Based on a numerical analysis taking into account the gas flow, heat and species transport, particularly over a wide range of the trichlorosilane gas concentrations from 1% to 40 % in ambient hydrogen, a heavy and cold gas was shown to quickly go downward to the hot wafer surface through the slim vertical gas channel. The gas phase near the wafer was sufficiently cooled to produce a cold wall thermal condition which enabled the trichlorosilane gas consumption only at the wafer surface, even in a non-axisymmetric and non-steady condition. The slow wafer rotation, less than 30 rpm, had a considerable effect, such as that increasing the gas phase temperature gradient for suppressing the gas phase reaction.
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