Low-temperature silicon epitaxy by low-energy bias sputtering

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Abstract
Bias sputtering at low energies, i.e., comparable to typical crystal interatomic binding energies, has been utilized to control the kinetics of thin-film growth. It was found that the crystallographic structures of sputter-deposited silicon films are drastically changed by the energy of ions incident at the substrate. As a result, formation of high quality epitaxial silicon films on (100) silicon substrates has been realized at such low temperatures as 320–350 °C. At the same time, low-temperature impurity doping of the epitaxial layer has been also demonstrated. Furthermore, the low-energy bias sputtering process has made it possible to perform very effective substrate surface cleaning at extremely low temperatures without introducing any damage to the substrate.