Low-temperature solid-phase epitaxy of defect-free aluminum p ⁺-doped silicon for nanoscale device applications

A solid phase epitaxy (SPE) technique was developed to grow p⁺ aluminum-doped crystalline Si in a fully CMOS compatible process. This paper describes the experimental conditions leading to the selective growth of nanoscale single crystals where the location and dimensions are well controlled, even in the sub-100 nm range. The SPE Si crystals are defined by conventional lithography and show excellent electrical characteristics. Fifty-nanometer-thick p⁺ SPE Si crystals were used to fabricate p⁺-n-p bipolar junction transistors. The remarkable control of the whole process, even in the sub-100 nm range, make this module directly usable for Si-based nanodevices.