FEM for modelling 193 nm excimer laser treatment of SiO2/Si/Si(1‐x)Gex heterostructures on SOI substrates

Abstract

AbstractResearch on epitaxial crystaline silicon (c‐Si) and silicon‐germanium (Si1‐xGex) alloys growth and annealing for microelectronic purposes, such as Micro‐ or Nano‐Electro‐Mechanical Systems (MEMS or NEMS) and Silicon–On‐Nothing (SON) devices is continuously in progress. Laser assisted annealing techniques using commercial ArF Excimer Laser sources are based on ultra‐rapid heating and cooling cycles induced by the 193 nm pulses of 20 ns, which are absorbed in the near surface region of the heterostructures. During and after the absorption of these laser pulses, complex physical processes appear that strongly depend on sample structure and applied laser pulse energy densities. The control of the experimental parameters is therefore a key task for obtaining high quality alloys. The Finite ElementsMethod (FEM) is a powerful tool for the optimization of such treatments, because it provides the spatial and temporal temperature fields that are produced by the laser pulses. In this work, we have used a FEM commercial software, to predict the temperatures gradients induced by ArF excimer laser over a wide energy densities range, 0.1<Φ <0.4 J/cm2, on different SiO2/Si/Si(1‐x)Ge(x) thin films deposited on SOI substrate. These numerical results allow us to predict the threshold energies needed to reach the melting point (MP) of the Si and SiGe alloy without oxidation of the thin films system. Therefore, it is possible to optimize the conditions to achieve high quality epitaxy films. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)