In situ studies of epitaxial silicon growth by gas source molecular beam epitaxy

The value of in situ monitoring to study growth dynamics and surface reaction kinetics in a gas source molecular beam epitaxy process is illustrated with reference to the growth of Si films on Si(001) substrates using a beam of disilane (Si₂H₆). By using a combination of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS), we show first how morphological (long-range order) and local electronic structure effects can be separated in the evaluation of growth dynamics. This involves the measurement of step density changes by RHEED concomitantly with the variation in domain coverage on the Si(001) (2×1)+(1×2) reconstructed surface by RAS. This approach is then extended to investigate the kinetics of hydrogen desorption, which is the rate-limiting step in Si growth from Si₂H₆. It is shown that over a significant temperature range, zeroth-order kinetics are obeyed and this is explained on the basis of a step-mediated desorption process. Finally we show how this influences the growth rate on substrates of differing degrees of vicinality. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.