Epitaxial silicon films deposited at high rates by gas-jet electron beam plasma CVD

We discuss a new method for low temperature epitaxial growth of silicon films by gas-jet electron beam plasma chemical vapor deposition in SiH4–Ar mixture. The growth rate up to 0.8 μm/min becomes possible at the substrate temperature below 650 °C, without using ultra-high vacuum chamber. Epitaxial Si films were deposited with the thickness up to 2–10 μm. The structure of the films has been studied after deposition by transmission electron microscopy, transmission high energy electron diffraction and reflection high energy electron diffraction. All films were of epitaxial types, but they were characterized by a high density of threading dislocations (≈107 cm−2).