Growth mode and structural properties of GaSb layers grown on silicon substrate by molecular beam epitaxy method are investigated by transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the GaSb grows to three-dimensional islands and grains are tilted to reduce a lattice mismatch through twin boundaries when they are directly grown on Si substrate. A low-temperature (LT) AlSb buffer plays a key role in transferring the growth mode from a three-dimensional island to a layer-by-layer structure. When the LT AlSb layer is used as a buffer, 90° misfit dislocations, with the Burgers vector b of 1∕2a⟨110⟩, are observed on the interface.

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Silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films using 1,3-di-isopropylamino-2,4-dimethylcyclosilazane (CSN-2) and N2 plasma were investigated. The growth rate of SiNx thin films was saturated in the range of 200–500 °C, yielding approximately 0.38 Å/cycle, and featuring a wide process window. The physical and chemical properties of the SiNx films were investigated as a function of deposition temperature. As temperature was increased, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed that a conformal thin film was obtained. Also, we developed a three-step process in which the H2 plasma step was introduced before the N2 plasma step. In order to investigate the effect of H2 plasma, we evaluated the growth rate, step coverage, and wet etch rate according to H2 plasma exposure time (10–30 s). As a result, the side step coverage increased from 82% to 105% and the bottom step coverages increased from 90% to 110% in the narrow pattern. By increasing the H2 plasma to 30 s, the wet etch rate was 32 Å/min, which is much lower than the case of only N2 plasma (43 Å/min).

InSb thin films were grown on Si (001) substrate via both conventional one-step growth and two-step growth methods by molecular beam epitaxy. The effect of two-step growth was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. A lot of planar defects and surface steps were observed in the InSb thin film directly grown on buffer layer. The crystalline quality of the InSb thin film was improved when it was grown via two-step growth. The low-temperature InSb initiation layer of two-step growth relieved a misfit strain by generating 90° misfit dislocations and obstructed the propagation of defects by trapping at the interface.

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