Modeling and Prediction of Hydrogen-Assisted Morphological Evolution in Silicon Utilizing a Level-Set Approach

Predicting the shape transformation of micro- and nano-scale structures in bulk silicon and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material in a hydrogen annealing process can be challenging due to the volume segmentation that is likely to occur for longer process times and the long-ranging surface diffusion of silicon atoms. We present a method that allows to accurately predict the shape transformation in such a process, including the modeling of any volume segmentation. This method allows determining the geometry and size of a silicon feature before hydrogen annealing in order to obtain a desired structure after the process. The presented approach allows validating the outcome of a hydrogen annealing process of a given, pre-patterned silicon structure. Experimental results of hydrogen-annealed micro-and nano-scale structures are presented alongside their simulated counterparts to verify the applicability of the proposed method further. [2021-0016]