High-Resolution Electron Microscope Study of Silicon on Insulator Structure Grown by Lateral Solid Phase Epitaxy

Abstract
Structural study of L-SPE grown (100)Si/SiO2 interface after high temperature annealing in Ar has been carried out using HRTEM. On an atomic scale the roughness at the (100)Si/ SiO2 interface is less than a few lattice planes (0.5 nm). When micro-twins are present in the L-SPE layer, almost all of them nucleate at the Si/SiO2 interface. This is evidence for the formation of {111} growth planes near the interface during the L-SPE growth. The twin/SiO2 interface is not parallel to the substrate and forms atomically sharp {111} facets. This fact indicates that the interfacial energy of the (111)Si/SiO2 interface is lower than that of the (100)Si/SiO2 in solid phase.