Surface and microstructural characterization of homoepitaxial silicon grown by pulsed laser deposition

There is a great deal of interest in thin film deposition techniques which can achieve good crystal quality at low substrate temperatures. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD), well-known as a reliable technique for fabrication of high critical temperature superconductor thin films, has a number of characteristics which may make it suitable for such applications. In particular, PLD is characterized by a relatively large average species energy, which can be controlled by the laser fluence at the target. This paper describes the growth of silicon on silicon films using PLD over substrate temperatures between 500 and 700 °C, and in-situ characterization using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Transmission electron microscopy confirms the growth of single crystal oriented films, and atomic force microscopy indicates smooth films with an rms surface roughness of less than 2 Å.