Extreme Supersaturation of Oxygen in Low Temperature Epitaxial Silicon and Silicon-Germanium Alloys

We report the low temperature growth (625 - 700 °C) of epitaxial silicon and silicon-germanium alloy films by vapor phase techniques with oxygen concentrations approximately 1020 cm-3. These concentrations are well above the accepted solid solubility for oxygen in silicon. The films, however, have excellent structural and electrical properties with virtually no stacking faults or “haze”. Infrared transmission analysis suggests the possible presence of OH, but the exact nature of the oxygen is not known.