Atomistic predictions of substrate orientation impact during SiGe alloys solid phase epitaxial regrowth

Coupled effects of substrate orientation and germanium concentration during silicon-germanium Solid Phase Epitaxial Regrowth (SPER) is analyzed through lattice kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. Atomistic events depending on the bonding environment allow to replicate the effects of alloying on SPER velocity of (100) substrates. The model is then used to draw predictions of the regrowth anisotropy in SiGe. Whereas Ge increase leads to a well-established SPER rate increase, whatever is the substrate orientation, moving away from (100) substrate orientation leads to a decrease of SPER rate caused by an unavoidable competition between the atomistic recrystallization configurations.