The high growth rate of epitaxial silicon–carbon alloys by using chemical vapour deposition and neopentasilane

The growth of epitaxy of silicon–carbon (Si1−yCy) alloy layers on (1 0 0) silicon substrates by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) with a novel precursor, neopentasilane, as the silicon source gas and methylsilane as the carbon source is reported. High quality Si1−yCy alloy layers at growth rates of 18 nm min−1 and 13 nm min−1 for fully substitutional carbon levels of 1.8% and 2.1%, respectively, were achieved. The highest substitutional carbon level achieved was 2.6% (strained perpendicular lattice constant of 5.347 Å) as determined by x-ray diffraction. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)