Effects of Lateral Limited Area and Substrate Compliance on Strain Distribution and Critical Thickness of Sige Film on Si Mesa Substrates

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we calculated theoretically the strain distribution and the critical thickness of the SiGe epilayers on Si(100) mesa structural substrates by considering the effect of the compliance of substrates, along with the effect of the limited area, and found that the compliance of substrates was relevant not only to its thickness, but also to their lateral size. The introduction of substrate compliance significantly reduced the total strain energy in the epilayers, and increased the critical thickness. That approach was realized by growth on the mesa substrates. The TEM observations confirmed the results of calculations.