Growth, structure, and electronic properties of molybdenum/silicon thin films by Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

Abstract

Mo-Si thin films have proven applications in semiconductor devices and x-ray optics. Since their performance in these applications is extremely sensitive to interface roughness, it is important to understand the nucleation and growth mechanisms which affect the microscopic interface structure. Investigations of the initial stages of interface formation in the Mo-Si system were carried out by depositing fractional-monolayer Mo films onto Si(100)-(2x1) and Si(111)-(7x7) surfaces using Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) with feedbackcontrolled electron-beam evaporation, and by characterizing these ultra-thin Mo films using in situ Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), LowEnergy Electron Diffraction (LEED), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and xray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Continuous growth of multiple Mo coverages on a single Si wafer was accomplished with a technique developed for these experiments, involving a moveable substrate shutter. The coverages were corrected for the deposition profile (due to growth chamber geometry) with ex situ Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) data and computer modelling. The growth mode was determined using Auger intensity measurements. In order to correct for the time dependence of the Auger intensities due to trace surface contamination and instrumental drift, a technique was developed which used Auger measurements on bulk Si and Mo to further normalize the intensity data for the fractional-monolayer coverages of Mo. The AES results in this dissertation show that for relatively slow Mo deposition (i.e. rates of approximately 0.05 Angstroms per second) onto either (100) or (111) Si substrates maintained at low temperatures (i.e. 100 °C), the first atomic monolayer of Mo is deposited in a non-layer-by-layer fashion, implying interdiffusion and/or agglomeration of the Mo overlayer. The LEED and RHEED results on similar samples show that the Mo layer is non-crystalline, i.e. there is no long-range periodicity. In addition, the deposition of Mo destroys the periodicity of the underlying Si atoms. For these deposition conditions, both the growth mode and the lack of crystallinity are independent of Si surface crystal structure.