Effect of crystal orientation on self-assembled silicon nanostructures formed by electron-beam annealing

Abstract

This paper discusses the growth of silicon nanostructures on silicon (100), (110), and (111) substrates by electron-beam annealing. The nanofabrication procedure involves annealing of the untreated Si substrates at 1100°C for 15s using a raster scanned 20-keV electron beam. Nanostructuring occurs as a result of kinetic amplification of the surface disorder induced by thermal decomposition of the native oxide. Pyramidal and truncated pyramidal nanocrystals were observed on Si(100) surfaces. The nanostructures are randomly distributed over the entire surface and square based, reflecting the twofold symmetry of the substrate surface. Similar square-based pyramidal structures with four equivalent facets are observed following the nanostructuring of Si(110). With Si(111), nanostructure growth occurs preferentially along step edges formed on the vicinal surfaces. Significant differences in the shapes of nanostructures formed on step edges and terraces are related to the different growth mechanisms on the unreconstructed and 7×7 reconstructed domains, respectively.

Universal characteristics of resonant-tunneling field emission from nanostructured surfaces

“…The self-assembled nanostructures are square-based and distributed randomly over the surface with a density of 11 µm −2 . High-resolution AFM and TEM studies 21 indicate an average nanostructure height of 8 nm and a base length distribution in the range 8-60 nm. The relevance of these structures to the study of 3D and 2D resonant-tunnelling field emission phenomena of the type discussed theoretically above, becomes apparent when one considers an energy band diagram of the S-N-V system.…”

Nanostructuring at the surface of low‐energy lead‐implanted silicon by electron beam annealing

“…Si nanostructures generated by the fast out-diffusion of Pb atoms during annealing creating a highly disturbed Si surface on which Si nanostructures form during the electron beam bombardment similar to the processes described in Refs [1][2][3]. The normalised plot of depth profiles of Pb shown in Fig.…”

Deuteron microprobe analysis of carbon in the transition region between SiC and Si nanostructures grown on Si

“…Both processes take place under high vacuum conditions (62 · 10 À7 mbar). SiC nanocrystals as large as 500 nm have been observed to form on the Si surface within the implanted region [1][2][3][4] and 5-20 nm Si nanostructures grow in the unimplanted region [5,6]. These Si nanostructures, called silicon nanowhiskers, show great potential as field emission cathodes [7,8].…”