Surface morphology of silicon layers grown on patterned silicon substrates by liquid-phase epitaxy

We have examined the selective growth of silicon on (1 0 0) oriented, oxidised silicon substrates containing two mutually perpendicular sets of line seeds, forming a continuous square mesh. The influence of the cooling rate and the spacing of the lines was investigated, in order to determine conditions which result in layers of constant thickness over the entire surface. It is found that, as the line spacing is decreased, higher growth rates are required to meet this criterion. It was possible to grow epitaxial layers with a hole coverage of less than 25% and a thickness of approximately 30 mu m in 30 min. Unlike for the case of selective epitaxial growth from discontinuous line seeds, the presence of dislocations does not have significant influence on the layer morphology. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.