Ultra-thin strain relaxed SiGe buffer layers with 40% Ge

2004 ◽  
Vol 809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klara Lyutovich ◽  
Erich Kasper ◽  
Michael Oehme

ABSTRACTVirtual substrates with ultra-thin SiGe strain relaxed buffers have been grown on Si substrates by a method employing point defect supersaturation in the growing layers. A concept of the point defect influence on the strain relaxation and on defect interactions in layers has been proposed. A method is developed to increase the degree of relaxation in sub-100 nm SiGe buffer layers and to provide a smooth surface morphology. Layer growth has been realized by solid source molecular beam epitaxy in a chamber equipped with an in situ monitoring system. One of the growth stages, performed at a very low temperature, serves the generation of point defects. Strain relaxation tunable up to the high degree and a crosshatch-free surface morphology are demonstrated in 40nm thick SiGe buffers which contain 40-45% Ge.Growth monitoring enables the control of the process window and the layer crystallization by a chosen mechanism.Virtual substrates produced by the described method were successfully tested in nMODFET structures.

1999 ◽  
Vol 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Ware ◽  
R. J. Nemanich

AbstractThis study explores stress relaxation of epitaxial SiGe layers grown on Si substrates with unique orientations. The crystallographic orientations of the Si substrates used were off-axis from the (001) plane towards the (111) plane by angles, θ = 0, 10, and 22 degrees. We have grown 100nm thick Si(1−x) Ge(x) epitaxial layers with x=0.3 on the Si substrates to examine the relaxation process. The as-deposited films are metastable to the formation of strain relaxing misfit dislocations, and thermal annealing is used to obtain highly relaxed films for comparison. Raman spectroscopy has been used to measure the strain relaxation, and atomic force microscopy has been used to explore the development of surface morphology. The Raman scattering indicated that the strain in the as-deposited films is dependent on the substrate orientation with strained layers grown on Si with 0 and 22 degree orientations while highly relaxed films were grown on the 10 degree substrate. The surface morphology also differed for the substrate orientations. The 10 degree surface is relatively smooth with hut shaped structures oriented at predicted angles relative to the step edges.


1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 417-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Piquette ◽  
P. M. Bridger ◽  
R. A. Beach ◽  
T. C. McGill

The surface morphology of GaN is observed by atomic force microscopy for growth on GaN and AlN buffer layers and as a function of III/V flux ratio. Films are grown on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a radio frequency nitrogen plasma source. Growth using GaN buffer layers leads to N-polar films, with surfaces strongly dependent on the flux conditions used. Flat surfaces can be obtained by growing as Ga-rich as possible, although Ga droplets tend to form. Ga-polar films can be grown on AlN buffer layers, with the surface morphology determined by the conditions of buffer layer deposition as well as the III/V ratio for growth of the GaN layer. Near-stoichiometric buffer layer growth conditions appear to support the flattest surfaces in this case. Three defect types are typically observed in GaN films on AlN buffers, including large and small pits and “loop” defects. It is possible to produce surfaces free from large pit defects by growing thicker films under more Ga-rich conditions. In such cases the surface roughness can be reduced to less than 1 nm RMS.


1998 ◽  
Vol 537 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Piquette ◽  
P. M. Bridger ◽  
R. A. Beach ◽  
T. C. McGill

AbstractThe surface morphology of GaN is observed by atomic force microscopy for growth on GaN and AlN buffer layers and as a function of III/V flux ratio. Films are grown on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a radio frequency nitrogen plasma source. Growth using GaN buffer layers leads to N-polar films, with surfaces strongly dependent on the flux conditions used. Flat surfaces can be obtained by growing as Ga-rich as possible, although Ga droplets tend to form. Ga-polar films can be grown on AlN buffer layers, with the surface morphology determined by the conditions of buffer layer deposition as well as the III/V ratio for growth of the GaN layer. Near-stoichiometric buffer layer growth conditions appear to support the flattest surfaces in this case. Three defect types are typically observed in GaN films on AlN buffers, including large and small pits and “loop” defects. It is possible to produce surfaces free from large pit defects by growing thicker films under more Ga-rich conditions. In such cases the surface roughness can be reduced to less than l nm RMS.


2000 ◽  
Vol 166 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 442-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Cordier ◽  
D. Ferre ◽  
J.-M. Chauveau ◽  
J. Dipersio

2014 ◽  
Vol 881-883 ◽  
pp. 1117-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Min Zhao

ZnO thin films with different thickness (the sputtering time of AlN buffer layers was 0 min, 30 min,60 min, and 90 min, respectively) were prepared on Si substrates using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system.X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), Hall measurements setup (Hall) were used to analyze the structure, morphology and electrical properties of ZnO films.The results show that growth are still preferred (002) orientation of ZnO thin films with different sputtering time of AlN buffer layer,and for the better growth of ZnO films, the optimal sputtering time is 60 min.


1987 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. El-Masry ◽  
N. Hamaguchi ◽  
J.C.L. Tarn ◽  
N. Karam ◽  
T.P. Humphreys ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTInxGa11-xAs-GaAsl-yPy strained layer superlattice buffer layers have been used to reduce threading dislocations in GaAs grown on Si substrates. However, for an initially high density of dislocations, the strained layer superlattice is not an effective filtering system. Consequently, the emergence of dislocations from the SLS propagate upwards into the GaAs epilayer. However, by employing thermal annealing or rapid thermal annealing, the number of dislocation impinging on the SLS can be significantly reduced. Indeed, this treatment greatly enhances the efficiency and usefulness of the SLS in reducing the number of threading dislocations.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Yokoo ◽  
Naoki Wakiya ◽  
Naonori Sakamoto ◽  
Takato Nakamura ◽  
Hisao Suzuki

AbstractWe have grown indium nitride (InN) films using In buffer layer on an a-plane sapphire substrate under atmospheric pressure by halide CVD (AP-HCVD). Growth was carried out by two steps: deposition In buffer layer at 900 °C and subsequent growth of InN layer at 650 °C. In order to compare, we also grown InN films on an a-plane sapphire. The InN films are investigated on crystal quality, surface morphology and electrical property using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), X-ray pole figure, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Hall measurement. The results show that the crystal quality, surface morphology and electrical property of InN films are improved by using In buffer layer.


2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 362-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Groenert ◽  
Christopher W. Leitz ◽  
Arthur J. Pitera ◽  
Vicky Yang ◽  
Harry Lee ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Ito ◽  
Yu Uchida ◽  
Sang-jin Lee ◽  
Susumu Tsukimoto ◽  
Yuhei Ikemoto ◽  
...  

AbstractAbout 20 years ago, the discovery of an AlN buffer layer lead to the breakthrough in epitaxial growth of GaN layers with mirror-like surface, using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique on sapphire substrates. Since then, extensive efforts have been continued to develop a conductive buffer layer/substrate for MOCVD-grown GaN layers to improve light emission of GaN light-emitting diodes. In the present study, we produced MOCVD-grown, continuous, flat epitaxial GaN layers on nitrogen enriched TiN buffer layers with the upper limit of the nitrogen content of TiN deposited at room temperature (RT) on sapphire substrates. It was concluded that the nitrogen enrichment would reduce significantly the TiN/GaN interfacial energy. The RT deposition of the TiN buffer layers suppresses their grain growth during the nitrogen enrichment and the grain size refining must increase nucleation site of GaN. In addition, threading dislocation density in the GaN layers grown on TiN was much lower than that in the GaN layers grown on AlN.


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