THEORETICAL MODELING OF EPITAXIAL GROWTH

REALISTIC YET REASONABLY SIMPLE INTERACTION POTENTIALS ARE ESSENTIAL INPUT FOR ANY COMPUTER SIMULATION INVESTIGATION. THREE-BODY OR OTHER SPECIAL TYPES OF INTERACTIONS (BEYOND PRESENT ISOTROPIC TWO-BODY POTENTIALS) ARE NECESSARY FOR SIMULATION STUDIES OF SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSES. LACKING SUCH POTENTIALS, THE RELIABLE SIMULATION OF EPITAXIAL GROWTH IS NOT POSSIBLE. CHEMICAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION PROPOSES TO DEVICE ACCURATE MODELS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR INTERACTIONS AND TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF SIMULATING EPITAXIAL GROWTH. THE POTENTIAL FUNCTION PARAMETERS WILL BE OBTAINED BY FITTING TO A DATA BASE OF ACCURATE AB INITIO AND EXPERIMENTAL INFORMATION. QUANTUM CHEMICAL CALCULATIONS WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART METHODS WILL BE USED TO EXPAND THE DATA BASE. THE MONTE CARLO PROCEDURE FOR ADATOM DEPOSITION ON A SUBSTRATE WILL BE EMPLOYED DURING PHASE I. EVALUATION OF THE MODEL FOR A REAL EPITAXIAL SYSTEM AND SIMULATIONS OF EPITAXIAL GROWTH WILL ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS APPROACH. IN PHASE II, CONTINUED ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING THE USE OF STOCHASTIC METHODS, TO REDUCE THE COST OF EPITAXIAL SIMULATION IS PLANNED. APPLICATIONS TO AT LEAST ONE COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR, SUCH AS SI/SIGE OR GE/GAAS, IS ANTICIPATED.