(Invited) Industrial Applications of Si-Based Epitaxy in Nanoelectronics

Abstract

Si, SiGe, SiC and Ge heteroepitaxial depositions (epi) on silicon wafers are of great interest as they allow dramatic performance improvements or even new devices fabrication. In this lecture, the various epi techniques will be briefly benchmarked for industrial usage and the characteristics of RTCVD, the most adopted technique, will be detailed. Then, based on the wide variety of epi processes integrated in very different technologies (Imagers, Photonics, Bipolars and CMOS) at STMicroelectronics (Crolles), important epi applications will be presented. This will also allow the main challenges/difficulties of epi to be listed; and some of them, namely the temperature control on product wafers in RTCVD, the thermal budget limitations coming from materials or technologies, and the “small size effects” in epi will detailed. As a conclusion, we will try to summary the recent and future trends in epi process.

Quantification of substitutional and interstitial carbon in thin SiGeC films using in-line X-ray-photoelectron spectroscopy

“…The incorporation of germanium (Ge) and carbon (C) into silicon (Si) results in a large variety of silicon-based devices due to their ability to tailor properties, whether structural, electronic, optical, chemical, mechanical, etc. 1 Hetero-junction bipolar transistors, 2 strained channel complementary metal oxide semiconductor devices, 3 infra-red photo-detectors, raised sources and drains, 4 micro-electro-mechanical systems, and virtual substrates for III–V integration are a few examples which benefit from such tailoring. However, growing Si 1− y C y or Si 1− x − y Ge x C y alloys is very challenging, as it requires overcoming the thermodynamic equilibrium solid solubility of C in solid Si to 10 −4 at% at 1400 °C 5 and probably even lower in Ge.…”

Substitutional Carbon Incorporation in SiGeC/Si Heterostructures: Influence of Silicon Precursors

“…The incorporation of germanium and carbon into silicon is very interesting for various types of silicon-based devices because the variety of properties that can be tailored, such as: band gap or lattice parameter engineering, dopant diffusion reduction, chemical properties, optical properties… Hetero-junction Bipolar Transistors, strained channel Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor devices, Infra-Red photo-detectors, elevated Sources and Drains, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, virtual substrates for III-V integration and so on benefit from such a tailoring (1).…”