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Journal Articles New Journal of Physics Year : 2011

Dynamics of solid thin-film dewetting in the silicon-on-insulator system

E. Bussmann
  • Function : Author
O. Pierre-Louis

Abstract

Using low-energy electron microscopy movies, we have measured the dewetting dynamics of single-crystal Si(001) thin films on SiO2 substrates. During annealing (T > 700 degrees C), voids open in the Si, exposing the oxide. The voids grow, evolving Si fingers that subsequently break apart into self-organized three-dimensional (3D) Si nanocrystals. A kinetic Monte Carlo model incorporating surface and interfacial free energies reproduces all the salient features of the morphological evolution. The dewetting dynamics is described using an analytic surface-diffusion-based model. We demonstrate quantitatively that Si dewetting from SiO2 is mediated by surface-diffusion driven by surface free-energy minimization.

Dates and versions

hal-00603256 , version 1 (24-06-2011)

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Cite

E. Bussmann, F. Cheynis, F. Leroy, Pierre Müller, O. Pierre-Louis. Dynamics of solid thin-film dewetting in the silicon-on-insulator system. New Journal of Physics, 2011, 13, pp.043017. ⟨10.1088/1367-2630/13/4/043017⟩. ⟨hal-00603256⟩
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