Al Islands on Si(111): Growth Temperature, Morphology and Strain

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Abstract

The comprehensive structural studies of thin island Al films with a thickness of 20–50 nm deposited by magnetron sputtering on Si(111) substrates in an argon plasma at a pressure of 6*10–3 mbar and a temperature from 20 to 500°C are presented. Studies of the morphology and microstructure of the films were carried out using XRD, SEM, EDS and TEM methods. It has been found that most of the islands are Al {001} and Al {111} crystallites with lateral sizes of 10–100 nm, differently conjugated with Si(111) substrate. At room temperature of the substrate, only Al {001} crystallites are epitaxially formed on it. The Al {111} crystallites epitaxially grown on the substrate dominate as the substrate temperature increases about 400°C. The influence of the temperature of the Si(111) substrate on the process of epitaxial growth of crystallites, the dynamics of their shape and structural perfection is shown. It has been found that crystallites epitaxially connected to the substrate experience deformation ε = 7 × 10–3 and ε = –2 × 10–3 for Al {001} and Al {111}, respectively. It has been shown that for thin island Al films on Si(111), the dependence of the number of crystallization centers and the particle growth rate on the supercooling temperature is consistent with the band model of crystallization. At the same time, a shift in the characteristic temperatures for the zone boundaries is observed due to the properties of the substrate. This must be taken into account when engineering the surface morphology and structural perfection of crystallites in Al island magnetron films.

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A. A. Lomov

Valiev Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

D. M. Zakharov

Valiev Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

M. A. Tarasov

Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. M. Chekushkin

Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. A. Tatarintsev

Valiev Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. L. Vasiliev

Kurchatov Institute

Email: apbblinov@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. SEM images of the surface of magnetron films of Al with an average thickness of 20-50 nm formed at steady-state on Si(111) substrate at temperatures: 20 (a), 200 (b), 400 (c) and 500°C (d). Letters B, L and S (c) mark crystallites with characteristic sizes

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3. Fig. 2. Distribution of the number N(ρ) of Al islands on the Si(111) substrate from the value of the radius ρ of a circle with area equal to the area of the island in the SEM image

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4. Fig. 3. Diffractograms from Al/Si(111) thin island films sputtered at different substrate temperatures: 20°C (a), 200°C (b), 400°C (c) and 500°C (d). (1) - without fine-tuning the Si(111) substrate, (2) - with fine-tuning the Si(111) substrate. The insets show modelling of the 002 reflection peak by two Voigt curves at 2θ = 44.55° (3) and 44.85° (4). CuKα emission

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5. Fig. 4. Schematic of PEM experiment (a), light-field PEM image ‘in plan’ of Al film (sample TA6-3) (b) and its electronogram (c)

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6. Fig. 5. (a) High-resolution light-field STEM images of cross sections of a 23 nm thick Al island film on Si(111) substrate (growth at 400°C): (a) Al island with [001] orientation along [111] normal to the substrate surface; (b) Al island with [111] orientation along [111] normal to the substrate surface. Two-dimensional Fourier spectra from the corresponding crystal lattices of the Al islands (top) and the substrate (bottom) are shown in the right insets

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