Exclusion zone surrounding silicon nanoclusters formed by rapid thermal chemical vapour deposition on SiO2

We present results of an experimental investigation on the nearest-neighbour distance of silicon nanoclusters obtained by chemical vapour deposition of silane on silicon oxide substrates. Structural characterization has been performed by means of energy filtered transmission electron microscopy, which allowed us to observe dot sizes down to 0.5 nm in radius. We have found that silicon nanodots after deposition are separated by a minimum distance of about 4 nm. This effect has also been observed on samples deposited in the same conditions on substrates which have been subjected to different chemical treatments. The phenomenon is attributed to the existence of a capture zone, within which new deposited Si monomers preferentially contribute to the growth of a previously nucleated seed rather than aggregate to form a new nucleus. As a confirmation of this hypothesis, the average dot radius has been observed to be proportional to the capture region size, thus indicating a scaling behaviour for this process. Moreover when the inter-dot distance distribution is scaled to its average value, it collapses into a universal curve.