Influence of Growth Temperature on the Physical Properties of Si Films on Yttria‐Stabilized, Cubic Zirconia Substrates

Abstract

Epitaxial (100) Si films 0.4–0.5 μm thick were grown by the pyrolysis of silane in a hydrogen atmosphere on (100) yttria‐stabilized, cubic zirconia (15 mole percent [m/o] Y2O3 ) at temperatures in the range 910°–1000°C and deposition rates of 0.06–0.58 μm/min. The heteroepitaxial Si films have been characterized by ultraviolet reflectance. Rutherford backscattering/channeling, and Hall effect measurements. It was found that the Si film quality depends strongly on substrate temperature. An optimum growth temperature range between 930° and 960°C was obtained and explained by two defect formation mechanisms: generation at growth temperature and that during cooling from growth temperature to room temperature. The best quality Si/YSZ films produced in this investigation had a value of surface channeling yield, χ0 , equal to 0.048, as compared to 0.1 for Si/YSZ films reported previously, and 0.12 for typical commercial SOS films, respectively, at 1.5 MeV 4He+ energy.