Epitaxial growth of highly strained Si on relaxed Ge/Si(1 0 0) using ECR plasma CVD without substrate heating

Abstract

By using electron-cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma chemical vapour deposition (CVD), epitaxial growth of highly strained Si on 84%-relaxed Ge/Si(1 0 0) without substrate heating has been investigated. For a Si thickness of 1.7 nm, the deposited surface is atomically flat, and the strain (ratio of change in the lattice constant to strain-free lattice constant) is about 4%. This value indicates that the strained Si lattice is matched to the relaxed Ge lattice. Furthermore, it is found that the heterostructure of strained Si/Ge is thermally stable up to 600 °C.