AVS 49th International Symposium
    Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session SS+EL-ThA

Paper SS+EL-ThA8
Preparation of Atomically Flat Si(100) Surface by Ion Etching

Thursday, November 7, 2002, 4:20 pm, Room C-112C

Session: Growth & Etching on Semiconductor Surfaces
Presenter: J. Kim, Utah State University
Authors: J. Kim, Utah State University
J.-Y. Ji, Utah State University
T.-C. Shen, Utah State University
J.S. Kline, University of Illinois
J.R. Tucker, University of Illinois
Correspondent: Click to Email
Preparation of atomically flat Si(100) surface under limited thermal budget has been one of the challenging processes in the research of atom-scale electronic device fabrication. While atomically flat monohydride surfaces can be obtained by aqueous NH@sub 4@F etching on Si(111) surfaces,@footnote 1@ wet-chemical process has yet to produce an atomically flat Si(100) hydride surface at a scale of more than a few nanometers. Ion irradiation effects on Si surfaces have been investigated extensively from mid-70s to early 90s as a surface cleaning process prior to Si epitaxy. Recent atomistic studies of ion sputtering on pristine Si and metal surfaces were more focused on the dynamics of ion-induced defects.@footnote 2@ We are currently using STM to investigate the surface morphologies during ion etching of oxide or wet-chemically prepared Si(100) surfaces by 0.4 - 1.5 keV Ar and Xe ions. We will delineate the effects of ion energy, ion fluence and substrate temperature, and assess the possibility of achieving atomically flat Si(100) surfaces by optimizing these parameters. This work is supported by NSF-DMR9875129, ARDA/ARO DAAD 19-00-1-0407 and DARPA-QuIST DAAD 19-01-1-0324. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ G. S. Higashi et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 56, 656 (1990). @footnote 2@ P. Bedrossian, Surf. Sci. 301, 223 (1994) and references therein.