Stacking fault generation during relaxation of silicon germanium on insulator layers obtained by the Ge condensation technique

Abstract

Stacking fault generation within silicon germanium on insulator substrates fabricated by the Ge condensation technique has been evidenced by transmission electronic microscopy analyses for high Ge content enrichments (80%). This phenomenon is explained as a typical strain relaxation mechanism assisted by creation of partial dislocations of Burgers vectors equal to 1∕6⟨2−1−1⟩ and 1∕6⟨11−2⟩. Experimental results and calculations show the existence of a critical Ge enrichment during the Ge condensation process where this creation occurs. This critical Ge enrichment is dependent on the initial parameters such as the initial Ge content and the initial SiGe layer thickness.