Fabrication and Characterization of Strained Si Material Using SiGe Virtual Substrate for High Mobility Devices

The fabrication and characterization of strained-Si material grown on a relaxed Si0.79 Ge0.21/graded Si1-x- Gex/Si virtual substrate, using reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition, are presented. The Ge concentration of the constant composition SiGe layer and the grading rate of the graded SiGe layer are estimated with double-crystal X-ray diffraction and further confirmed by SIMS measurements. The surface root mean square roughness of the strained Si cap layer is 2.36nm,and the strain is about 0.83% as determined by atomic force microscopy and Raman spectra, respectively. The threading dislocation density is on the order of 4 × 10^4cm^-2. Furthermore, it is found that the stress in the strained Si cap layer is maintained even after the high thermal budget process, nMOSFET devices are fabricated and measured in strained-Si and unstrained bulk-Si channels. Compared to the co-processed bulk-Si MOSFETs at room temperature,a significant low vertical field mobility enhancement of about 85% is observed in the strained-Si devices.

Band Edge Model of (101)-Biaxial Strained Si

A band edge model in （101）-biaxial strained Si on relaxed Si1-x Gex alloy,or monoclinic Si （m-Si）,is presented using the k · p perturbation method coupled with deformation potential theory. Results show that the [001], [001], [100], [100] valleys constitute the conduction band （CB） edge,which moves up in electron energy as the Ge fraction （x） increases. Furthermore,the CB splitting energy is in direct proportion to x and all the valence band （VB） edges move up in electron energy as x increases. In addition, the decrease in the indirect bandgap and the increase in the VB edge splitting energy as x increases are found. The quantitative data from the models supply valuable references for the design of the devices.

Determination of conduction band edge characteristics of strained Si/Si1-xGex

The feature of conduction band （CB） of Tensile-Strained Si（TS-Si） on a relaxed Si1-xGex substrate is systematically investigated, including the number of equivalent CB edge energy extrema, CB energy minima, the position of the extremal point, and effective mass. Based on an analysis of symmetry under strain, the number of equivalent CB edge energy extrema is presented; Using the K.P method with the help of perturbation theory, dispersion relation near minima of CB bottom energy, derived from the linear deformation potential theory, is determined, from which the parameters, namely, the position of the extremal point, and the longitudinal and transverse masses （m1^＊ and mt^＊）are obtained.

The study on two-dimensional analytical model for gate stack fully depleted strained Si on silicon-germanium-on-insulator MOSFETs

Based on the exact resultant solution of two-dimensional Poisson＇s equation in strained Si and Si1-xCex layer, a simple and accurate two-dimensional.analytical model including surface channel potential, surface channel electric field, threshold voltage and subthreshold swing for fully depleted gate stack strained Si on silicon-germanium-on-insulator （SGOI） MOSFETs has been developed. The results show that this novel structure can suppress the short channel effects （SCE）, the drain-induced barrier-lowering （DIBL） and improve the subthreshold performance in nanoelectronics application. The model is verified by numerical simulation. The model provides the basic designing guidance of gate stack strained Si on SGOI MOSFETs.

Novel vertical stack HCMOSFET with strained SiGe/Si quantum channel

A novel vertical stack heterostructure CMOSFET is investigated, which is structured by strained SiGe/Si with a hole quantum well channel in the compressively strained Sil-xGex layer for p-MOSFET and an electron quantum well channel in the tensile strained Si layer for n-MOSFET. The device possesses several advantages including： 1） the integration of electron quantum well channel with hole quantum well channel into the same vertical layer structure; 2） the gate work function modifiability due to the introduction of poly-SiGe as a gate material; 3） better transistor matching; and 4） flexibility of layout design of CMOSFET by adopting exactly the same material lays for both n-channel and p-channel. The MEDICI simulation result shows that p-MOSFET and n-MOSFET have approximately the same matching threshold voltages. Nice performances are displayed in transfer characteristic, transconductance and cut-off frequency. In addition, its operation as an inverter confirms the CMOSFET structured device to be normal and effective in function.

Two-dimensional models of threshold voltage and subthreshold current for symmetrical double-material double-gate strained Si MOSFETs

The two-dimensional models for symmetrical double-material double-gate （DM-DG） strained Si （s-Si） metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors （MOSFETs） are presented. The surface potential and the surface electric field ex- pressions have been obtained by solving Poisson＇s equation. The models of threshold voltage and subthreshold current are obtained based on the surface potential expression. The surface potential and the surface electric field are compared with those of single-material double-gate （SM-DG） MOSFETs. The effects of different device parameters on the threshold voltage and the subthreshold current are demonstrated. The analytical models give deep insight into the device parameters design. The analytical results obtained from the proposed models show good matching with the simulation results using DESSIS.

Physically-based modeling for hole scattering rate in strained Si_(1-x) Ge_x/(100)Si

Based on the Fermi's golden rule and the theory of Boltzmann collision term approximation, a physically-based model for hole scattering rate(SR) in strained Si1-x Gex/(100)Si was presented, which takes into account a variety of scattering mechanisms,including ionized impurity, acoustic phonon, non-polar optical phonon and alloy disorder scattering. It is indicated that the SRs of acoustic phonon and non-polar optical phonon decrease under the strain, and the total SR in strained Si1-x Gex/(100)Si also decreases obviously with increasing Ge fraction(x). Moreover, the total SR continues to show a constant tendency when x is less than 0.3. In comparison with bulk Si, the total SR of strained Si1-x Gex/(100) Si decreases by about 58%.

Retarded thermal oxidation of strained Si substrate

Strained Si is recognized as a necessary technology booster for modem integrated circuit technology. However, the thermal oxidation behaviors of strained Si substrates are not well understood yet despite their importance. In this study, we for the first time experimentally find that all types of strained Si substrates （uniaxial tensile, uniaxial compressive, biaxial tensile, and biaxial compressive） show smaller thermal oxidation rates than an unstrained Si substrate. The possible mechanisms for these retarded thermal oxidation rates in strained Si substrates are also discussed.

Valence band structure and density of states effective mass model of biaxial tensile strained silicon based on k·p theory

After constructing a stress and strain model, the valence bands of in-plane biaxial tensile strained Si is calculated by k·p method. In the paper we calculate the accurate anisotropy valance bands and the splitting energy between light and heavy hole bands. The results show that the valance bands are highly distorted, and the anisotropy is more obvious. To obtain the density of states （DOS） effective mass, which is a very important parameter for device modeling, a DOS effective mass model of biaxial tensile strained Si is constructed based on the valance band calculation. This model can be directly used in the device model of metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor （MOSFET）. It also a provides valuable reference for biaxial tensile strained silicon MOSFET design.

A new method of fabricating strained Silicon materials

Strain-relaxed SiGe virtual substrates are of great importance for fabricating strained Si materials. Instead of using graded buffer method to obtain fully relaxed SiGe film, in this study a new method to obtain relaxed SiGe film and strained Si film with much thinner SiGe film was proposed. Almost fully relaxed thin SiGe buffer layer was obtained by Si/SiGe/Si multi-structure oxidation and the SiO2 layer removing before SiGe regrowth. Raman spectroscopy analysis indicates that the regrown SiGe film has a strain relaxation ratio of about 93% while the Si cap layer has a strain of 0.63%. AFM shows good surface roughness. This new method is proved to be a useful approach to fabricate thin relaxed epilayers and strain Si films.

Impact of 〈100〉Channel Direction for High Mobility p-MOSFETs on Biaxial Strained Silicon

Biaxial strain technology is a promising way to improve the mobility of both electrons and holes, while （100） channel direction appears as to be an effective booster of hole mobility in particular. In this work, the impact of biaxial strain together with （100） channel orientation on hole mobility is explored. The biaxial strain was incorporated by the growth of a relaxed SiGe buffer layer,serving as the template for depositing a Si layer in a state of biaxial tensile strain. The channel orientation was implemented with a 45^o rotated design in the device layout,which changed the channel direction from （110） to （100） on Si （001） surface. The maximum hole mobility is enhanced by 30% due to the change of channel direction from （110） to （100） on the same strained Si （s-Si） p-MOSFETs,in addition to the mobility enhancement of 130% when comparing s-Si pMOS to bulk Si pMOS both along （110） channels. Discussion and analysis are presented about the origin of the mobility enhancement by channel orientation along with biaxial strain in this work.

Penetration depth at various Raman excitation wavelengths and stress model for Raman spectrum in biaxially-strained Si

The carrier mobility of Si material can be enhanced under strain,and the stress magnitude can be measured by the Raman spectrum.In this paper,we aim to study the penetration depths into biaxially-strained Si materials at various Raman excitation wavelengths and the stress model corresponding to Raman spectrum in biaxially-strained Si.The experimental results show that it is best to use 325 nm excitation to measure the material stress in the top strained Si layer,and that one must pay attention to the distortion of the buffer layers on measuring results while 514 nm excitation is also measurable.Moreover,we established the stress model for Raman spectrum of biaxially-strained Si based on the Secular equation.One can obtain the stress magnitude in biaxially-strained Si by the model,as long as the results of the Raman spectrum are given.Our quantitative results can provide valuable references for stress analysis on strained materials.

A strained Si-channel NMOSFET with low field mobility enhancement of about 140% using a SiGe virtual substrate

A fully standard CMOS integrated strained Si-channel NMOSFET has been demonstrated. By adjusting the thickness of graded SiGe, modifying the channel doping concentration, changing the Ge fraction of the relaxed SiGe layer and forming a p-well by multiple implantation technology, a surface strained Si-channel NMOSFET was fabricated, of which the low field mobility was enhanced by 140%, compared with the bulk-Si control device. Strained NMOSFET and PMOSFET were used to fabricate a strained CMOS inverter based on a SiGe virtual substrate. Test results indicated that the strained CMOS converter had a drain leakage current much lower than the Si devices, and the device exhibited wonderful on/off-state voltage transmission characteristics.

Impact of strained silicon on the device performance of a bipolar charge plasma transistor

In this manuscript we analyze a unique approach to improve the performance of the bipolar charge plasma transistor(BCPT) by introducing a strained Si/SiGe1-x layer as the active device region. For charge plasma realization different metal work-function electrodes are used to induce n+ and p+ regions on undoped strained silicon-on-insulator(sSOI or SiGe) to realize emitter, base, and collector regions of the BCPT. Here,by using a calibrated 2-D TCAD simulation the impact of a Si mole fraction x(in SiGe) on device performance metrics is investigated. The analysis demonstrates the band gap lowering with decreasing Si content or effective strain on the Si layer, and its subsequent advantages. This work reports a significant improvement in current gain, cutoff frequency, and lower collector breakdown voltage(BVCEO) for the proposed structure over the conventional device. The effect of varying temperature on the strained Si layer and its implications on the device performance is also investigated. The analysis demonstrates a fair device-level understanding and exhibits the immense potential of the SiGematerial as the device layer. In addition to this, using extensive 2-D mixed-mode TCAD simulation, a considerable improvement in switching transient times are also observed compared to its conventional counterpart.

Calculation of band edge levels of strained Si/(111)Si_(1-x)Ge_x

Calculations were performed on the band edge levels of （111）-biaxially strained Si on relaxed Si1-xGex alloy using the k.p perturbation method coupled with deformation potential theory. The results show that the conduction band （CB） edge is characterized by six identicalvalleys, that the valence band （VB） edge degeneracies are partially lifted, and that both the CB and VB edge levels move up in electron energy as the Ge fraction （x） increases. In addition, the dependence of the indirect bandgap and the VB edge splitting energy on x was obtained. Quantitative data from the results supply valuable references for Si-based strained device design.

Inter valley phonon scattering mechanism in strained Si/(101)Si_(1-x)Ge_x

Inter valley scattering has a great impact on carrier mobility of strained Si materials,so based on Fermi＇s golden rule and the theory of Boltzmann collision term approximation,inter valley phonon scattering mechanism of electrons in nano scale strained Si（101） materials is established under the influence of both energy and stress. It shows that inter valley phonon f_2,f_3,g_3 scattering rates decrease markedly in nano scale strained Si（101） materials with increasing stress.The quantized models can provide valuable references to the understanding of strained Si materials and the research on electron carrier mobility.

Hole scattering mechanism of strained Si/(111)Si_(1-x)Ge_x

Based on Fermi’s golden rule and the theory of Boltzmann collision term approximation, the hole scattering mechanism ofstrained Si/(111)Si1 xGexwas established, including ionized impurity, acoustic phonon, non-polar optical phonon and totalscattering rate models. It was found that the total scattering rate of the hole in strained Si/(111)Si1 xGexdecreased obviouslywith the increasing stress when energy was 0.04 eV. In comparison with one of the unstrained Si, the total hole scattering rateof strained Si/(111)Si1 xGexdecreased about 38% at most. The decreasing hole scattering rate enhanced the hole mobility instrained Si materials. The result could provide valuable references to the research on hole mobility of strained Si materials andthe design of PMOS devices.

Hole effective mass in strained Si (111)

The directional, averaged, and density-of-states effective masses of holes have been calculated for strained Si/(111)Si1-xGex. The results for the directional effective mass show that the effect of strain makes the constant energy surface of "heavy" holes more obvious warping than that in relaxed Si. The [111] and [110] directional effective masses of "heavy" holes decrease significantly under strain. It is found that the averaged effective mass of "heavy" holes decreases with increasing Ge fraction, while that of "light" holes increases. The traditional concepts of heavy and light holes become insignificant when Ge fraction is close to 0.4. The strain effect monotonically reduces the density-of-states effective mass at 218, 300 and 393 K, respectively.

An analytical threshold voltage model for dual-strained channel PMOSFET

Based on the analysis of vertical electric potential distribution across the dual-channel strained p-type Si/strained Si1-xGex/relaxd Si1-yGey（s-Si/s-SiGe/Si1-yGey） metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor （PMOSFET）, analytical expressions of the threshold voltages for buried channel and surface channel are presented. And the maximum allowed thickness of s-Si is given, which can ensure that the strong inversion appears earlier in the buried channel （compressive strained SiGe） than in the surface channel （tensile strained Si）, because the hole mobility in the buried channel is higher than that in the surface channel. Thus they offer a good accuracy as compared with the results of device simulator ISE. With this model, the variations of threshold voltage and maximum allowed thickness of s-Si with design parameters can be predicted, such as Ge fraction, layer thickness, and doping concentration. This model can serve as a useful tool for p-channel s-Si/s-SiGe/Si1-yGey metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor （MOSFET） designs.

Structure and Strain Properties of GaN Films Grown on Si（111） Substrates with AlxGa1-xN/AlyGa1-yN Superlattices

CaN films with an AlxGa1-xN/AlyGa1-xN superlattice （SL） buffer layer are grown on Si（111） substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition （MOCVD）. The structure and strain properties of the samples are studied by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry and atomic force microscopy. The results show that the strain status and crystalline quality of the CaN layers are strongly dependent on the difference of the Al composition between AlxCa1-xN barriers and AlyCa1-yN wells in the SLs. With a large Al composition difference, the CaN film tends to generate cracks on the surface due to the severe relaxation of the SLs. Otherwise, when using a small Al composition difference, the crystalline quality of the CaN layer degrades due to the poor function of the SLs in filtering dislocations. Under an optimized condition that the Al composition difference equals 0.1, the crack-free and compressive strained CaN film with an improved crystalline quality is achieved. Therefore, the AlxGa1-xN/AlyGal-yN SL buffer layer is a promising buffer structure for growing thick CaN films on Si substrates without crack generation.