Epitaxial Silicon Layers Made by Reduced Pressure/Temperature CVD
ABSTRACTIn a rapid thermal processing system working at a total pressure of a few Torr, we have obtained selective epitaxial growth of silicon at temperatures as low as 650°C. When using SiH2Cl2 (DCS) as the reactive gas, no addition of HCl is needed. Nevertheless, using SiH4 below 950°C a small amount of HCl should be added.Some kinetic aspects of the two systems, DCS/HCI/H2 and SiH4/HCl/H2, are presented and discussed. For the DCS system, we show that the rate-limiting reactions are slightly different from those commonly accepted in the literature, where the results are from systems working at atmospheric pressure or in the 20-100 Torr range.Our model is based on the main decomposition of DCS, SiH2Cl→SiHCl + HCl, instead of the widely accepted reaction SiH2Cl2→SiCl2 + H2. This is the main reason why no extra HCl is required in the DCS/H2 system to obtain full selectivity from above 1000°C down to 650°C.