Strain relaxation of strained-Si layers on SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) structures after mesa isolation

ABSTRACT Strained-Si-On-Insulator (Strained-SOI) MOSFETs are one of the most promising device structures for high speed and/or low power CMOS. In realizing strained-Si MOS LSI, fabrication of strained-Si MOSFETs with small sizes are indispensable and thus, the investigation of the strain relaxation is an important issue. Therefore, the strain relaxation of strained-SOI mesa islands with small active area was investigated in this study. Thin strained-Si films were grown on thin relaxed SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) structures (x=0.28). The isolation process was carried out by using chemical-dry-etching (CDE) to fabricate samples with small active areas. Using Raman spectroscopy with resolution of > 1 micron meter, strained-Si islands on SGOI substrates with the size of 5 micron meter square were investigated. Rapid-thermal-annealing (RTA) in N₂ atmosphere was performed to study the strain relaxation during heating processes. As a result, it was confirmed that the strained-Si layers grown on relaxed SiGe (x=0.28) before and after mesa isolation, down to 5 micron meter in size, had almost no relaxation after the RTA process at 1000°C. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the nano-beam electron diffraction (NBD) measurement showed similar tendency regarding the strain relaxation.