Stiffness of Step Bunches on Si(111)

Configurations of atomic steps on vicinal Si(111) miscut toward the [112] direction after homoepitaxial step-flow growth were studied as a function of growth thickness by ex situ atomic force microsocopy. We found that step bunches coarsen via the zipping-up of single, double, triple, and quadruple...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJapanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 43; no. 6B; p. L822
Main Authors Omi, Hiroo, Homma, Yoshikazu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 15.06.2004
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Summary:Configurations of atomic steps on vicinal Si(111) miscut toward the [112] direction after homoepitaxial step-flow growth were studied as a function of growth thickness by ex situ atomic force microsocopy. We found that step bunches coarsen via the zipping-up of single, double, triple, and quadruple bilayer steps during the growth, and that the zipping steps contact neighboring step bunches at characteristic angles depending on their heights. The new finding of the step-height-dependence enabled us to evaluate step bunch stiffness. The step bunches are shown to be significantly stabilized compared with a simple summation of stiffness of individual single bilayer steps.
ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.1143/JJAP.43.L822