Solid phase epitaxy amorphous silicon re-growth: some insight from empirical molecular dynamics simulation

TL;DR

This study uses empirical molecular dynamics simulations to explore how silicon amorphous/crystalline interfaces migrate during solid phase epitaxy, revealing orientation-dependent mechanisms and the impact of boron doping.

Contribution

It provides atomic-level insights into interface migration mechanisms and the effects of orientation and doping during silicon recrystallization.

Findings

[100] interface migration is quasi-planar

[110] involves nanofacet formation

[111] involves bilayer reordering and slower migration

Abstract

The modelling of interface migration and the associated diffusion mechanisms at the nanoscale level is a challenging issue. For many technological applications ranging from nanoelectronic devices to solar cells, more knowledge of the mechanisms governing the migration of the silicon amorphous/crystalline interface and dopant diffusion during solid phase epitaxy is needed. In this work, silicon recrystallisation in the framework of solid phase epitaxy and the influence on orientation effects have been investigated at the atomic level using empirical molecular dynamics simulations. The morphology and the migration process of the interface has been observed to be highly dependent on the original inter-facial atomic structure. The [100] interface migration is a quasi-planar ideal process whereas the cases [110] and [111] are much more complex with a more diffuse interface. For [110], the interface migration corresponds to the formation and dissolution of nanofacets whereas for [111] a defective based bilayer reordering is the dominant re-growth process. The study of the interface velocity migration in the ideal case of defect free re-growth reveals no difference between [100] and [110] and a decrease by a mean factor of 1.43 for the case [111]. Finally, the influence of boron atoms in the amorphous part on the interface migration velocity is also investigated in the case of [100] orientation.