Ultrasmooth growth of amorphous silicon films through ion-induced long-range surface correlations

摘要: Ultrasmooth amorphous silicon films with a constant roughness below 0.2 nm were produced for film thickness up to ∼1 μm by magnetron sputtering under negative voltage substrate biasing (100–400 V). In contrast, unbiased conditions the of resulting mounded increased linearly growth time due shadowing effects. A detailed analysis dynamics proves that bias-induced ultrasmoothness is downhill mass transport process leads an extreme surface leveling inducing height correlations lateral distances close 0.5 μm.