Detailed geometrical characterisation of a surfacial Si (100) grain boundary

Thin (100) silicon films bonded onto (100) silicon wafers with a controlled geometry (film thickness and grain disorientation) have been realised and investigated. We report the accurate determination of the disorientation between the two grains of a [100] surfacial grain boundary (twist angle psi = 0.44degrees). Four different measurements are compared. (A) The first one is obtained during bonding, by monitoring disorientation angles via the identical graduate scales patterned on the two bonded wafers. (B) The second measurement is deduced from the periods of the dislocation networks. (C) The third one is calculated from large angle convergent beam electron diffraction patterns. (D) The last one is realised by X-ray diffraction. The accuracies of the different measurements are compared.