9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
[12a-W834-1] Thermal Relaxation of a Micron-Scale Step on Si(001) Substrates
Keywords:silicon, high temperature anneal, microstructure
Morphological evolution of a micron-scale step fabricated on Si(001) substrates during high temperature annealing has been studied. We show that upon the thermal realxation of the micron-scale step, surface oscilation occurs, while the top and bottom corners are rounded. We also show that the profiles of the surface oscillation are different between the upper and lower terraces of the step. We discuss the mechanism of the surface oscillation based on Mullins theory for surface-diffusion-driven evolution.