Atomic details of step flow growth on Si(001)

How to fabricate a defect free Si(001) surface

“…27 Even though numerous STM studies have been carried out on the Si͑100͒ surface, most of them have concentrated on the filled state STM images taken at relative high surface biases as Ϫ2 V. Only recently it was realized that probing the surface of Si͑100͒ with various biases is important, particularly through research of adsorbed atoms which revealed that some adsorbed atoms are invisible in the filled state STM images taken at conventional surface biases ͑Ϫ2 V͒. [27][28][29][30][31] In addition, recently it has been pointed out that the dangling-bond orbitals are roughly localized in the range of ϳϮ1 V from the Fermi level, and in a typical STM image taken at the surface bias of Ϫ2 V, a significant part of the tunneling current must come from other states than the dangling bond orbitals. 27,32 Defects are the major reason why most of the previous STM studies mainly concentrated on the filled state images taken at a relatively high bias ͑Ϫ2 V͒.…”

The role of antiphase domain boundaries in Si epitaxy by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition from SiH 4 or SiH 2 Cl 2 on Si(100)-(2×1)

“…Adopting the classification scheme for stepped Si(100) surfaces [10] they are denoted S A if the dimer rows of the island are parallel to the steps and S B if they are perpendicular to the steps. For island growth under conditions far away from thermodynamic equilibrium, which is the case for low-temperature UHV-CVD growth, the anisotropy of the islands is governed by sticking and diffusion processes along the border of the islands (S A and S B steps), which have been studied extensively both theoretically [11][12][13] and experimentally [14][15][16][17] and shall not be discussed here in detail. Generally speaking, diffusing adatoms which reach an S A step are easier reflected than incorporated in the island.…”

Step structures and kinking on Si(001)

“…As well as being the basis for electronic devices, it is a prototypical system for the study of diffusion and growth. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In recent years, with the development of elevated temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, it has become clear that steps on the surface, and their kinks, play a vital role in the growth process, both from solid sources 5,[9][10][11][12] and ͑at high temperatures͒ from gas sources. 4,13 It is now widely accepted that the surface reconstructs into dimers, which tilt asymmetrically 14,15 and line up to form rows ͑which rotate through ninety degrees at steps͒, giving a (2ϫ1) reconstruction, with higher periodicities associated with different arrangements of the tilted dimers also common.…”