Surface electromigration of In on vicinal Si(0 0 1)

Surface mass transport of In ®lm on vicinal Si(0 0 1) has been systematically investigated by a scanning Auger electron microscopy (SAM), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was observed that the temperature dependence of the mass transport shows the critical phenomenon. Above a critical temperature Tc, surface electromigration of the In ®lm toward the cathode side dominated the surface mass transport on the vicinal Si(0 0 1) surface. The LEED and AFM observations revealed that the In ®lm surface on the vicinal Si(0 0 1) consists of 3 4 terraces and (3 1 0) facets. The area ratio of the facet to the terrace exhibited abrupt an increase at Tc. It is believed that the change of the mass transport is related to the abrupt change of the area ratio of the facet to the terrace. Both the critical temperature Tc and the spread due to the surface electromigration of the In ®lm depended on the con®guration of the DC current direction and the step edge. # 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.