Abstract
We investigate the molecular-beam-epitaxy growth of highlyrelaxed Si0.45Ge0.55 films with very low dislocationdensities. By using the Si3N4 film as the mask material,the Si0.45Ge0.55 film can be grown on a compositionallystepwise graded SiGe buffer layer in 3 μm×3 μm windows ona Si (001) substrate. Raman scattering spectroscopy measurement showsthat more than 90% strain of the Si0.45Ge0.55 film isrelaxed, and almost neither misfit dislocation lines nor etch pits ofthread dislocations could be observed when the sample is etched by themodified Schimmel etchant. We suggest that the results can be explainedby influence of the edge-induced strain relaxation of the epitaxialfilm and the edge-induced stress of the mask material.
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