Mechanism for the Reduction of Threading Dislocation Densities in Si0.82Ge0.18 Films on Silicon on Insulator Substrates

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have made an extensive study of Si0.82Ge0.18 film relaxation on silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates having a top Si layer 40, 70, 330nm, and 10[.proportional]m thick. SiGe films were deposited with a thickness up to 1.2[.proportional]m in an ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition system at 630°C. Following growth, films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and a dislocation revealing etch. The same level of relaxation is reached for each thickness of SiGe film independent of the substrate structure. Accompanying the film relaxation is the development of a tetragonal tensile strain in the thin Si layer of the SOI substrates. This strain reached 0.22% for the 1.2[.proportional]m film on the 40nm SOI and decreases with SOI thickness. The Si thickness of the SOI substrate also effected the threading dislocation density. For 85% relaxed films the density fell from 7×106 pits/cm2 on bulk Si to 103pits/cm2 for the 40, 70, and 330nm SOI substrates. The buried amorphous layer of the SOI substrate alters the dislocation dynamics by allowing dislocation core spreading or dislocation dissociation. The reduced strain field of these dislocations reduces dislocation interactions and the pinning that results. Without the dislocation pinning, the misfit dislocations can extend longer distances yielding a greatly reduced threading dislocation density.