ABSTRACT
Thin (001) silicon films bonded onto (001) silicon wafers, which form “twist surfacial grain boundaries”, are investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The top silicon film thickness has been precisely reduced by a thermal oxidation of the surface. Thicknesses varying from 200nm to 10nm have been studied. We observe that the thinning procedure can induce mobility through the interface and inside the thin silicon film of the interfacial screw dislocations. The stability of these interfacial dislocations is shown to depend both on the ratio of the top film thickness to the period of the screw dislocation array and on the density of edge dislocations.
