Trench-edge defects formed during epitaxial recrystallization of trench-bounded amorphized Si (a-Si) regions were examined as a function of Si substrate crystal orientation. In Si(001), rectilinear a-Si features having edges aligned with the in-plane <110> directions recrystallized leaving trench-edge defects along all of the trench edges, whereas the identical features in Si(011) recrystallized without trench-edge defects along trench edges parallel to the crystal's in-plane <100> direction and with trench-edge defects along trench edges parallel to the in-plane <110> direction. The positions and lateral extent of these trench-edge defects suggested that their source was defective epitaxy on slow-growing {111} planes formed during recrystallization. A heuristic model proposed to explain the formation of these {111} planes correctly predicted the essentially defect-free recrystallization seen for rectilinear a-Si features in Si(001) having edges aligned with the crystal's in-plane <100> directions, but could not completely account for the distinctively curved growth fronts sometimes seen at intermediate stages of recrystallization.

A Study of Trench-Edge Defect Formation in (001) and (011) Silicon Recrystallized by Solid Phase Epitaxy. K.L.Saenger, J.P.de Souza, K.E.Fogel, J.A.Ott, C.Y.Sung, D.K.Sadana, H.Yin: Journal of Applied Physics, 2007, 101[2], 024908