Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spontaneous Formation of Ridges on Patterned Mesas and Their Role in the Evolution of Step Arrays

  • Published:
MRS Online Proceedings Library Aims and scope

Abstract

Mesa structures fabricated on Si(111) surfaces have been found experimentally to develop step arrays with large spacing of the order of a micron or more after annealing at temperatures where sublimation becomes important. Ridges around the edges initially develop during annealing and form barriers to step motion before eventually breaking down. This produces an array of steps of the same sign with a few wide terraces. Computer simulations using one dimensional Burton, Cabrera and Frank (BCF) theory including attachment-detachment rates and step-step repulsion for this configuration show that the terraces evolve under different dynamics depending on the terrace widths. For large terrace widths, sublimation dominates the step dynamics and the Ehrlich-Schwoebel effect is negligible. Sinusoidal terrace width distributions result in this case. The experimentally measured step distribution has such a sinusoidal shape suggesting that the step dynamics is sublimation dominated on the mesas after ridge breakdown.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. K.-C. Chang and J. M. Blakely, in Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., (2002), Vol. 749, W16.5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Z. L. Liau and H. J. Zeiger, J. Appl. Phys. 67, 2434 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. W. W. Mullins, J. Appl. Phys. 28, 333 (1957).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. W. W. Mullins, J. Appl. Phys. 30, 77 (1959).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. G. S. Rohrer, C. L. Rohrer, and W. W. Mullins, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 84, 2099 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. W. W. Mullins and G. S. Rohrer, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 83, 214 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. N. Combe, P. Jensen, and A. Pimpinelli, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 110 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. W. K. Burton, N. Cabrera, and F. C. Frank, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. of London Ser. A 243, 299 (1951).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. K.-C. Chang and J. M. Blakely, Surf. Sci., To be published (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  10. C. Misbah and O. Pierre-Louis, Phys. Rev. E 53, R4318 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. M. Sato and M. Uwaha, Phys. Rev. B 51, 11172 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Cornell Center for Materials Research and by NSF grant no. DMR-0109641. The authors would like to acknowledge the extensive use of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility in making the patterned Si(111) samples.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA

    Kee-Chul Chang & Jack M. Blakely

Authors
  1. Kee-Chul Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jack M. Blakely
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chang, KC., Blakely, J.M. Spontaneous Formation of Ridges on Patterned Mesas and Their Role in the Evolution of Step Arrays. MRS Online Proceedings Library 854, U2.5/JJ2.5/KK2.5 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-854-U2.5/JJ2.5/KK2.5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-854-U2.5/JJ2.5/KK2.5

Search

Navigation