Impact of PECVD-prepared interfacial Si and SiGe layers on epitaxial Si films grown by PECVD (200 °C) and APCVD (1130 °C)

The homoepitaxy of Si is particularly interesting for the purpose of kerfless wafer production, for example in the photovoltaic domain. Substrate surface engineering is a key step prior to epitaxial growth, which will affect the quality of the epitaxial layer and its detachment for layer transfer. In this work, we propose two plasma-based surface engineering methods including the deposition of a bilayer homoepitaxial interface and a SiGe heteroepitaxial interface. Their impact on the crystalline quality of epitaxial Si layers grown both by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 200 °C and by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) at 1130 °C are explored. Stacking faults are observed in epitaxial Si layers with an ultra-thin epitaxial Si interface layer. For surface engineering method based on the addition of an interfacial heteroepitaxial SiGe layer, a higher interfacial hydrogen content and a better bulk epitaxial Si quality are observed in comparison with interfacial homoepitaxial Si layer.