Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Influence of Surface Temperature on Fluorine Etching of Silicon

Molecular dynamics simulation of the reactionsbetween gaseous fluorine atoms and silicon are performed usingthe development Tersoff-Brenner potential at the temperaturefrom 500K to 1200K. The simulation results show that the Sisurface temperature significantly affects the F etching. Forinstance, as the surface temperature rises up, the numbers of Fatoms deposited on and scattered by Si surface decrease, at thesame times, the number of the sputtering fluorine atoms and thereactive F atoms with surface to produce volatile compoundsincrease. In addition, the quantity of the F etched Si atomsincreased with an increase of the surface temperature