Heterogeneous nucleation and growth of polycrystalline silicon

Abstract

The heterogeneous nucleation theory of silicon on SiO2 and Si3N4 substrates has been developed using classical theory. It is shown that the experimental observations can be explained on the basis of the bond energies of O-H, N-H and Si-H. A reaction model is proposed for the growth of silicon on silicon from silane, using hydrogen as a carrier gas in the temperature region 600-900°C. The growth rate of silicon is shown to be equal to PSiH 4 PH 2 when the partial pressure of hydrogen is high, and is independent of the total pressure and the partial pressure of hydrogen in the lower region. © 1985 Indian Academy of Sciences.