Influence of hydrogen desorption on the generation of defects in LEPECVD

We have applied a new variant of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (CVD) that we call low energy plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition with the acronym LEPECVD, to the growth of epitaxial Si. We find that the intense exposure of the wafer to the ion bombardment from the plasma enhances the hydrogen desorption to such an extent that homoepitaxial Si(001) can be grown at the rate of 5 nm s−1 at substrate temperatures below 600°C.