Determination by high-resolution X-ray diffraction of shape, size and lateral separation of buried empty channels in silicon-on-nothing architectures

J. Appl. Cryst. (2007). 40, 338–343 [doi:10.1107/S0021889807003603]

Silicon-on-nothing samples, made by a 1D periodic planar array of buried empty channels, were studied by high-resolution, multi-crystal X-ray diffraction. If the channels are normal to the scattering plane, Fraunhofer diffraction occurs in a scan normal to the reciprocal lattice vector (relv). By analysis of this scan and the scan along relv, the latter in terms of the static Debye–Waller factor, the period of the buried empty channels and their shape, size and lateral gap were determined and compared with the cross-section SEM image (Figure).