Silicon wet etching: hillock formation mechanisms and dynamic scaling properties

D. A. MIRABELLA, G. P. SUÁREZ, M. P. SUÁREZ, Y C. M. ALDAO

Santiago

Congreso; XVII Conference on Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics; 2012

Surface roughening due to anisotropic wet etching of silicon was studied experimentally and modeled using the Monte Carlo method. Simulations were used to determine the consequences of site-dependent detachment probabilities on surface morphology for a one- and two-dimensional substrate models, focusing on the formation mechanisms of etch hillocks. Dynamic scaling properties of the 1D model were also studied. Different scaling properties were found depending on the stability of the hillocks tops (apices). Resorting to the height-height correlation function and the structure factor, conventional, anomalous and super-rough scaling were detected.