Formation of uniaxially strained SiGe by selective ion implantation technique

Abstract

Uniaxially strained SiGe layers were fabricated with a newly developed selective-ion-implantation technique. The SiGe layer was grown on the Si substrate, into which laterally selective ion-implantation with stripe pattern was carried out prior to the SiGe growth. A strain-relaxation of the SiGe layer was largely enhanced due to ion-implantation-induced defects selectively in the ion-implanted area while it was hardly enhanced in the neighboring unimplanted area. However, micro-Raman mapping and X-ray diffraction reciprocal space mapping measurements obviously revealed that the relaxed SiGe in the implanted area remarkably influenced a strain state of the neighboring strained SiGe in the unimplanted area, that is, the strain along the stripe line direction was highly relieved due to the stress caused by the neighboring relaxed SiGe while the strain in the direction perpendicular to the line was well maintained. As a result, highly asymmetric strain state, that is, uniaxial strain was realized, where 4 times different relaxation ratios in the two directions were observed. These results indicate that the selective-ion-implantation technique developed in this study has a high potential to realize uniaxially strained Si/Ge channel devices with high mobility.