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Heteroepitaxy of group IV materials for future device application
Heteroepitxy of group IV materials (Si, SiGe, and Ge) has great potential for boosting Si-based novel device performance because of the possibility for strain, band gap/Fermi-level engineering, and applying emerging artificial materials such as a superlattice (SL) and nanodots. In order to control group IV heteroepitaxy processes, strain, interface, and surface energies are very essential parameters. They affect dislocation formation, interface steepness, reflow of deposited layers, and also surface reaction itself during the growth. Therefore, process control and crystallinity management of SiGe heteroepitaxy are difficult especially in the case of high Ge concentrations. In this paper, we review our results of abrupt SiGe/Si interface fabrication by introducing C-delta layers and the influence of strain on the surface reaction of SiGe. Three-dimensional self-ordered SiGe and Ge nanodot fabrication by proactively using strain and surface energies by depositing SiGe/Si and Ge/SiGe SL are also reviewed.
Vertical alignment control of self-ordered multilayered Ge nanodots on SiGe
Self-ordered multilayered Ge nanodots with SiGe spacers on a Si0.4Ge0.6 virtual substrate are fabricated using reduced-pressure chemical vapor deposition, and the mechanism of vertical ordering is investigated. The process conditions of Ge and SiGe layer deposition are H2-GeH4 at 550 °C and H2-SiH4-GeH4 at 500 °C-550 °C, respectively. By depositing the SiGe at 550 °C or increasing Ge content, the SiGe surface becomes smooth, resulting in vertically aligned Ge nanodots to reduce strain energy. Ge nanodots prefer to grow on the nanodot where the SiGe is relatively tensile strained due to the buried Ge nanodot underneath. By depositing at 500 °C and lowering Ge content, checkerboard-like surface forms, and the following Ge nanodots grow at staggered positions to reduce surface energy. The Ge nanodots are laterally aligned along the elastically soft 〈100〉 direction without pre-structuring resulting from the strain distribution.