Defect-free germanium has been demonstrated in SiO2 trenches on silicon via Aspect Ratio Trapping, whereby defects arising from lattice mismatch are trapped by laterally confining sidewalls. Results were achieved through a combination of conventional photolithography, reactive ion etching of SiO2, and selective growth of Ge as thin as 450nm. Full trapping of dislocations originating at the Ge∕Si interface has been demonstrated for trenches up to 400nm wide without the additional formation of defects at the sidewalls. This approach shows great promise for the integration of Ge and/or III-V materials, sufficiently large for key device applications, onto silicon substrates.

Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition growth of GaAs on Si was studied using the selective aspect ratio trapping method. Vertical propagation of threading dislocations generated at the GaAs∕Si interface was suppressed within an initial thin GaAs layer inside SiO2 trenches with aspect ratio >1, leading to defect-free GaAs regions up to 300nm in width. Cross-sectional and plan-view transmission electron microscopies were used to characterize the defect reduction. Material quality was confirmed by room temperature photoluminescence measurements. This approach shows great promise for the fabrication of optoelectronic integrated circuits on Si substrates.

Recent research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the “aspect ratio trapping” technique for eliminating threading dislocations in Ge grown selectively in submicron trenches on Si substrates. In this letter, analysis of the mechanisms by which dislocation elimination is achieved has been carried out. Detailed transmission electron microscopy studies reveal that facets, when formed early in the growth process, play a dominant role in determining the configurations of threading dislocations in the films. These dislocations are shown to behave as “growth dislocations,” which are replicated during growth approximately along the facet normal and so are deflected out from the center of the selective epitaxial regions.

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