Time-Resolved Reflectivity Study of Solid-Phase Epitaxial Regrowth in Relaxed and Strained Si1−xGex Epilayers

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe rate of solid-phase epitaxial regrowth has been studied using time-resolved reflectivity in three different types of SiGe/Si epilayers amorphized by ion implantation. In two of these cases, the alloy epilayer contained either 12% or 20% Ge, and the amorphization depth was greater than the thickness (2000 Å) of the SiGe alloy layer. Time-resolved reflectivity measurements showed that the rate of regrowth was not constant in these two cases, but first decreased after passing the SiGe/Si interface, and then increased. The minimum regrowth rate occurred closer to the SiGe/Si interface in the epilayers with the larger Ge atomic fraction. In the third type of sample, the alloy epilayer thickness was ∼7μm, so that the initial epilayer (15% Ge) had the lattice constant of the bulk alloy. Furthermore, amorphization and regrowth occurred entirely within the relaxed alloy layer. In this case, the regrowth rate was constant. The composition dependence of the regrowth-rate transient in the strained layers is discussed in the context of a ‘critical-thickness’ model of strain relaxation.