SOI structures by selective epitaxial lateral overgrowth

Selective epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of silicon has been investigated in the SiH/sub 2/Cl/sub 2//HCl/H/sub 2/ system at reduced pressure and reduced temperature with emphasis on achieving high-quality silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures for device applications. For these SOI structures to be viable in device applications, the ELO silicon must have good uniformity across the wafer. This would not be so difficult if the horizontal growth rate were much greater than the vertical growth rate. Presently this ratio is about 1:1. Because the vertical height is large it was necessary to etch back to form the thin ( >