Abstract
The morphologies of nanoscale epitaxial islands of TISi2 are studied. The islands are prepared by deposition of ulrathin Ti (3-20 angstroms) on both smooth and roughened Si(001) substrates. The island formation is initiated by annealing to 800-1000 °C. The roughened substrates are prepared by etching with atomic H produced in a plasma. The morphologies of the substrate before and after island formation arc examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). In particular, the influence of surface-roughness on both the formation of islands and the size distribution of islands is investigated. On a rough substrate islands with a lateral dimension of approximately 350 angstroms and a vertical dimension of approximately 25 angstroms were observed with size uniformity of approximately 20%. Also it was observed that the roughness of the surface reduced the island size and affected the island distribution. The results arc discussed in terms of surface energy and the swain field around the islands.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 223-228 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings |
| Volume | 448 |
| State | Published - 1997 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1996 MRS Fall Meeting - Boston, MA, USA Duration: 2 Dec 1996 → 6 Dec 1996 |