In Situ Optical Monitoring and Morphological Evolution of Si Nanowires Grown on Faceted Al2O3(0001) Substrates

This paper presents the growth and in situ optical characterization of silicon nanowires (Si NWs) on Al₂O₃(0001) substrates that are thermally faceted using the atomic low angle shadowing technique (ATLAS) method. Annealing Al₂O₃ substrates in air before surface faceting was used for the first time, as identified by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Planar Si NW arrays were subsequently deposited and characterized in real-time by reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS). RAS measurements detected irreversible spectral changes during growth, e.g., red-shift in peak energy for marking amorphous Si NW formation. Blue-shifts in RAS spectra following annealing post-growth at varied temperatures were found to be associated with structural nanowire development. AFM analysis following annealing detected dramatic changes in morphology, e.g., quantifiable differences in NW height and thickness and complete disappearance of nanowire structures at high temperatures. These results confirm the validity of in situ RAS as a monitoring tool for nanowire growth and illustrate Si NW morphology's sensitivity to thermal processing.