Abstract
A study has been made of the growth of single crystal silicon by the recently proposed vapour-liquid-solid mechanism. The reduction of silicon tetrachloride with hydrogen has been used to deposit silicon via thin liquid alloy zones of gold/silicon and nickel/silicon on to single crystal substrates.
Epitaxial layers and orientated whiskers are obtained using gold, while the growth from nickel appears random. Various growth forms are explained in terms of the temperature variation of the surface tension of the liquid alloy. The work emphasizes the value of the vapour-liquid-solid mechanism and has shown the importance of temperature and temperature gradients in its control.