Effect of Si+ and Ge+ ions on the growth of Si1−xGex films on Si(001) using potential-enhanced molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

The effect of Si+ and Ge+ source ions on surface morphology and strain relaxation of Si1−xGex (0.25≤x≤1.0) film on Si (001) substrate was investigated using potential-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy. The growth temperature ranged from 450 to 710 °C. The applied potential to the substrate was varied between −2.0 and 1.5 kV. The acceleration of a small fraction of source ions toward the substrate suppressed three-dimensional nucleation mode, and dramatically improved the surface morphology. Contrary to the negative potential, the application of a positive potential did not contribute to improving the surface smoothness of Ge on Si. For the growth of Si0.5Ge0.5 film, the surface morphology was degraded further by applying a positive potential of 1.5 kV. Si0.75Ge0.25 films grown with a negative potential of −1.6 kV relieved the strain at the much earlier stage of heteroepitaxial growth than that of conventional molecular-beam epitaxy.