Thermal annealing effects on a compositionally graded SiGe layer fabricated by oxidizing a strained SiGe layer

Role of thermal annealing on SiGe thin films fabricated by PECVD

“…9 (b) shows that the degree of strain relaxation in the film is about 51-55%. A higher strain relaxation of about 66% was reported by Cai et al [6] where the annealing temperature is higher than that in our study. The higher the degree of strain relaxation, the lesser will be the strain in the film.…”

“…The films can be made crystalline by subsequent thermal annealing. Thermal annealing may change the surface morphology, crystallinity and strain profile of the films which lead to a change in the physical properties of the film [4][5][6]. The large lattice mismatch between SiGe film and Si substrate can introduce crystal defects such as misfit dislocations and threading dislocations in the microstructure, which degrade the morphological and mechanical characteristics of the resulting film.…”

“…Getting good quality films with high degree of strain relaxation and low dislocation density is a challenge. The effect of annealing on SiGe thin films grown using an ultrahigh-vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHVCVD) has been reported elsewhere [6][7][8][9][10]. However there are not many studies on PECVD grown SiGe films.…”

“…The in-plane strain ε is related to the lattice parameters by the definition, SiGe is the lattice constant of the relaxed SiGe and a "SiGe is the in-plane lattice parameter of strained SiGe film. The degree of strain relaxation R is defined as[6] …”

Experimental evidence of oxidant-diffusion-limited oxidation of SiGe alloys

“…[7][8][9] Some researches investigated the accumulation and diffusion of Ge atoms during the oxidation process. 10,11 In addition, several models were proposed to explain the oxidation kinetics of SiGe. Srivatsa et al 12 modified the rate constants of the Deal-Grove model of oxidation of pure Si to explain the enhancement in the oxidation rate.…”