Controlling Formation of Atomic Step Morphology on Micro-patterned Si (100)

Published

August 9, 2011

Author(s)

Kai Li, Pradeep Namboodiri, Sumanth B. Chikkamaranahalli, Gheorghe Stan, Ravikiran Attota, Joseph Fu, Richard M. Silver

Abstract

Micro scale features are fabricated on Si (100) surfaces using lithographic techniques and then thermally processed in an ultra high vacuum (UHV) environment. Samples are flash heated at 1200 °C and further annealed at 1050 °C for 18 hours. The surface morphology was examined using an atomic force microscopy (AFM). The process resulted in the formation of symmetric, reproducible step-terrace patterns with very wide atomically flat regions exhibiting highly reproducible step-terrace morphology. 25 µm lithographically patterned cells spontaneously transform into a symmetric formation marked by step bunches pinned by pyramidal structures separated by wide atomic terraces. The pyramidal features are visible using a conventional optical microscope and are to be used as fiducial marks to locate nanoscale features fabricated on the atomically flat terraces.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

29

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Silicon (100), Atomic Force Microscopy, Atmic scale Step Morphology

Citation

Li, K. , Namboodiri, P. , Chikkamaranahalli, S. , Stan, G. , Attota, R. , Fu, J. and Silver, R. (2011), Controlling Formation of Atomic Step Morphology on Micro-patterned Si (100), Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907301 (Accessed October 11, 2025)