Silicon germanium (SiGe) virtual substrates of final germanium composition have been fabricated using solid-source molecular beam epitaxy with a thickness of 2 μm. A layer structure that helps limit the size of dislocation pileups associated with the modified Frank–Read dislocation multiplication mechanism has been studied. It is shown that this structure can produce lower threading dislocation densities than conventional linearly graded virtual substrates. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows the superior quality of the dislocation network in the graded regions with a lower rms roughness shown by atomic force microscopy. X-ray diffractometry shows these layers to be highly relaxed. This method of Ge grading suggests that high-quality virtual substrates can be grown considerably thinner than with conventional grading methods.
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16 December 2002
Research Article|
December 16 2002
Terrace grading of SiGe for high-quality virtual substrates
A. D. Capewell;
A. D. Capewell
Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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T. J. Grasby;
T. J. Grasby
Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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T. E. Whall;
T. E. Whall
Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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E. H. C. Parker
E. H. C. Parker
Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 4775–4777 (2002)
Article history
Received:
August 13 2002
Accepted:
October 22 2002
Citation
A. D. Capewell, T. J. Grasby, T. E. Whall, E. H. C. Parker; Terrace grading of SiGe for high-quality virtual substrates. Appl. Phys. Lett. 16 December 2002; 81 (25): 4775–4777. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1529308
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