Morphological transformation of a crystal–melt interface during unidirectional growth of silicon

• Published in: Acta materialia Vol. 59; no. 11; pp. 4700 - 4708
• Main Authors: Fujiwara, K., Gotoh, R., Yang, X.B., Koizumi, H., Nozawa, J., Uda, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Amplification; Applied sciences; Crystallization; Crystal–melt interface; Exact sciences and technology; Metals. Metallurgy; Morphology; Perturbation; Planes; Semiconductor; Silicon; Temperature gradient; Transformations; Crystal–melt interface; Semiconductor; Crystallization; Crystal growth; Semiconductor materials; Interface; Crystal-melt interface
• ISSN: 1359-6454; 1873-2453
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2011.04.016

We investigated the morphological transformation at Si (1
1
0), (1
1
2) and (1
1
1) crystal–melt interfaces during unidirectional growth by in situ observation. It was directly observed that the morphology of the Si (1
1
0) and (1
1
2) crystal–melt interfaces was transformed from planar to zigzag facets at high growth velocities, although no such morphological transformation was observed at Si (1
1
1) interfaces. It was shown that a zigzag faceted interface was formed when a wavy perturbation was introduced into the planar interface, and that the perturbation was amplified. This zigzag facet formation behavior of the Si (1
1
0) and (1
1
2) interfaces is similar to that of the Si (1
0
0) interface. It is concluded that this formation of a zigzag faceted interface is universal at the crystal–melt interface of rough planes of Si, and that a negative temperature gradient at the crystal–melt interface is required for morphological transformation from planar to zigzag facets.