In Situ Observation of Crystalline Silicon Growth from SiO2 at Atomic Scale
Kaihao Yu,
Tao Xu,
Xing Wu,
Wen Wang,
Hui Zhang,
Qiubo Zhang,
Luping Tang,
Litao Sun
Affiliations
Kaihao Yu
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Tao Xu
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Xing Wu
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multidimensional Information Processing, Department of Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Wen Wang
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Hui Zhang
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Qiubo Zhang
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Luping Tang
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Litao Sun
SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
The growth of crystalline Si (c-Si) via direct electron beam writing shows promise for fabricating Si nanomaterials due to its ultrahigh resolution. However, to increase the writing speed is a major obstacle, due to the lack of systematic experimental explorations of the growth process and mechanisms. This paper reports a systematic experimental investigation of the beam-induced formation of c-Si nanoparticles (NPs) from amorphous SiO2 under a range of doses and temperatures by in situ transmission electron microscopy at the atomic scale. A three-orders-of-magnitude writing speed-up is identified under 80 keV irradiation at 600°C compared with 300 keV irradiation at room temperature. Detailed analysis reveals that the self-organization of c-Si NPs is driven by reduction of c-Si effective free energy under electron irradiation. This study provides new insights into the formation mechanisms of c-Si NPs during direct electron beam writing and suggests methods to improve the writing speed.
