In recent years, research on epitaxial growth for photovoltaics became more important due to the increasing interest in thin-film silicon solar cells. Two significant challenges need to be resolved before this technique can become a competitive industrial alternative to the current dominating technology of bulk silicon solar cells: (i) the availability of a high-throughput and cost-effective ep...

We formulate a reduced order model for multi-layer, epitaxial growth of a thin film. The model describes layer-by-layer growth using three bulk (i.e. scalar) quantities per layer: average coverage ψ, average island number density n and average adatom density ρ for each layer. The model relies on simplifying assumptions on the geometry of the islands, as well as several approximations for the ph...

A continuum field theory approach is presented for modeling elastic and plastic deformation, free surfaces, and multiple crystal orientations in nonequilibrium processing phenomena. Many basic properties of the model are calculated analytically, and numerical simulations are presented for a number of important applications including, epitaxial growth, material hardness, grain growth, reconstruc...

This article continues the development of a hybrid scheme for simulating epitaxial growth that combines the Burton– Cabrera–Frank (BCF) model with kinetic Monte-Carlo (KMC) simulation. This is the first implementation of the scheme for ‘‘2+1’’ dimensional growth. Other improvements over an earlier version include the use of a more conventional KMC model and some refinement in the handling of th...

A pattern of repulsive, charged lines is shown to direct three-dimensional (3D) crystallization in a system of long-range repulsive, density-matched colloids. At volume fractions where the bulk phase behavior leads to bcc crystallization, the 1D template was found to induce formation of a metastable fcc crystal. The bcc crystals were oriented with the (100) or the (110) plane, with twofold twin...

We report about the formation of a Si twinning-superlattice (TSL). Si layers containing 1808 rotation twin boundaries arranged periodical along the [111] direction and only separated by 2.5 nm (corresponding to TSL) have been prepared by molecular beam epitaxy. The method consists of repeating of several growth and annealing circles on boron(B)-predeposited undoped Si substrates. It is shown th...

This report details the objectives, methodologies, and results for Phase II of the project, “Modeling and Optimization for Epitaxial Growth” (see [21] for Phase I report). This project is a joint effort between the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) and Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ESSS), Baltimore, MD. The overall objective is to improve manufacturing...

We have grown epitaxial Rhenium (Re) (0001) films on α-Al2O3 (0001) substrates using sputter deposition in an ultra high vacuum system. We find that better epitaxy is achieved with DC rather than with RF sputtering. With DC sputtering, epitaxy is obtained with the substrate temperatures above 700 °C and deposition rates below 1 Å/s. The epitaxial Re films are typically composed of terraced hexa...

We generalize the level set approach to model epitaxial growth to include thermal detachment of atoms from island edges. This means that islands do not always grow and island dissociation can occur. We make no assumptions about a critical nucleus. Excellent quantitative agreement is obtained with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations for island densities and island size distributions in the submonola...