Growth of silicon nitride films by bombarding amorphous silicon with N+ ions: MD simulation

F Gou and MA Gleeson and AW Kleyn and RWE van de Kruijs and AE Yakshin and F Bijkerk, NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS, 267, 3245-3248 (2009).

DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2009.06.091

In this study, the molecular dynamics simulation method was employed to investigate the growth of silicon nitride films by using N+ ions, with energies of 50, 100, 150 and 200 eV, to bombard an amorphous silicon surface at 300 K. After an initial period of N+ bombardment, saturation of the number of N atoms deposited on the surface is observed, which is in agreement with experiments. During subsequent steady state deposition, a balance between uptake of N by the surface and sputtering of previously deposited N is established. The Si(N-x) (x = 1-4) and N(Si-y) (y = 1-3) bond configurations in the grown films are analyzed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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