Self–aligned one–dimensional array of silicon quantum dots on SiO₂ line patterns

Abstract We demonstrated highly selective growth and positioning of Si quantum dots (QDs) on SiO₂ patterns by controlling the reactive area whose surface is terminated with OH bonds for the Si nucleation in low–pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using SiH 4 , and evaluated the effects of line and space pattern width on QD growth. Although hemispherical QDs were predominantly formed when the line width was ∼50 nm or greater, elliptical QD shapes became more prevalent as the line width decreased to ∼30 nm or less, resulting in reduced size uniformity. However, it was found that one–dimensional arrays of elliptical QDs with good size uniformity can be realized with line widths of ∼25 nm and space widths of ∼50 nm. Furthermore, by designing a line and space pattern considering the migration length of the Si precursor during the SiH 4 –LPCVD, we successfully formed two–dimensional self–aligned Si–QDs with high uniformity to form a closest–packing structure.