31 research outputs found
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Final report on LDRD Project: In situ determination of composition and strain during MBE
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) of semiconductor heterostructures for advanced electronic and opto-electronic devices requires precise control of the surface composition and strain. The development of advanced in situ diagnostics for real-time monitoring and process control of strain and composition would enhance the yield, reliability and process flexibility of material grown by MBE and benefit leading-edge programs in microelectronics and photonics. The authors have developed a real-time laser-based technique to measure the evolution of stress in epitaxial films during growth by monitoring the change in the wafer curvature. Research has focused on the evolution of stress during the epitaxial growth of Si{sub x}Ge{sub 1{minus}x} alloys on Si(001) substrates. Initial studies have observed the onset and kinetics of strain relaxation during the growth of heteroepitaxial layers. The technique has also been used to measure the segregation of Ge to the surface during alloy growth with monolayer sensitivity, an order of magnitude better resolution than post-growth characterization. In addition, creation of a 2-dimensional array of parallel beams allows rapid surface profiling of the film stress that can be used to monitor process uniformity
Prepyramid-to-pyramid transition of SiGe islands on Si(001)
The morphology of the first three-dimensional islands appearing during
strained growth of SiGe alloys on Si(001) was investigated by scanning
tunneling microscopy. High resolution images of individual islands and a
statistical analysis of island shapes were used to reconstruct the evolution of
the island shape as a function of size. As they grow, islands undergo a
transition from completely unfacetted rough mounds (prepyramids) to partially
{105} facetted islands and then they gradually evolve to {105} facetted
pyramids. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of a recently
proposed theoretical model
X-ray Diffraction Mapping Of Strain Fields And Chemical Composition Of Sige:si(001) Quantum Dot Molecules
A variety of surface morphologies can be formed by controlling kinetic parameters during heteroepitaxial film growth. The system reported is a Si0.7 Ge0.3 film grown by molecular beam epitaxy at 550°C and a 1 s deposition rate, producing quantum dot molecule (QDM) structures. These nanostructures are very uniform in size and shape, allowing strain mapping and chemical composition evaluation by means of anomalous x-ray diffraction in a grazing incidence geometry. Tensile and compressed regions coexist inside QDMs, in accordance with the finite-element calculations of lattice relaxation. The Ge content was found to vary significantly within the structures, and to be quite different from the nominal composition. © 2006 The American Physical Society.7312Chen, K.M., (1995) Appl. Phys. Lett., 66, p. 34. , APPLAB 0003-6951 10.1063/1.114172Goldfarb, I., (1997) Phys. Rev. Lett., 78, p. 3959. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.3959Mo, Y.-W., (1990) Phys. Rev. Lett., 65, p. 1020. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.65.1020Tomitori, M., (1994) Appl. Surf. Sci., 76-77, p. 322. , ASUSEE 0169-4332Floro, J.A., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 80, p. 4717. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.4717Ross, F.M., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 80, p. 984. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.984Medeiros-Ribeiro, G., (1998) Science, 279, p. 353. , SCIEAS 0036-8075 10.1126/science.279.5349.353Chaparro, S.A., (1999) Phys. Rev. Lett., 83, p. 1199. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.1199Denker, U., (2005) Appl. Phys. Lett., 772, p. 599. , APPLAB 0003-6951Gray, J.L., (2002) Appl. Phys. Lett., 81, p. 2445. , APPLAB 0003-6951 10.1063/1.1509094Vandervelde, J.T.E., (2003) Appl. Phys. Lett., 83, p. 2505. , APPLAB 0003-6951Jesson, D.E., (1996) Phys. Rev. Lett., 77, p. 1330. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.1330Gray, J.L., (2004) Phys. Rev. Lett., 92, p. 135504. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.135504Schülli, T.U., (2003) Phys. Rev. Lett., 90, p. 066105. , PRLTAO. 0031-9007. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.066105Malachias, A., (2003) Phys. Rev. Lett., 91, p. 176101. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.176101Magalhães-Paniago, R., (2002) Phys. Rev. B, 66, p. 245312. , PRBMDO. 0163-1829. 10.1103/PhysRevB.66.245312Krause, B., (2005) Phys. Rev. B, 72, p. 085339. , PRBMDO 0163-1829 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.085339Zhang, Y., (2001) J. Appl. Phys., 90, p. 4748. , JAPIAU 0021-8979 10.1063/1.1407311Gray, J.L., (2005) Phys. Rev. B, 72, p. 155323. , PRBMDO 0163-1829 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.155323Tersoff, J., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, p. 3183. , PRLTAO 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.318
First-principles calculation of the effect of strain on the diffusion of Ge adatoms on Si and Ge (001) surfaces
First-principles calculations are used to calculate the strain dependencies
of the binding and diffusion-activation energies for Ge adatoms on both Si(001)
and Ge(001) surfaces. Our calculations reveal that the binding and activation
energies on a strained Ge(001) surface increase and decrease, respectively, by
0.21 eV and 0.12 eV per percent compressive strain. For a growth temperature of
600 degrees C, these strain-dependencies give rise to a 16-fold increase in
adatom density and a 5-fold decrease in adatom diffusivity in the region of
compressive strain surrounding a Ge island with a characteristic size of 10 nm.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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Measurements of stress evolution during thin film deposition
We have developed a technique for measuring thin film stress during growth by monitoring the wafer curvature. By measuring the deflection of multiple parallel laser beams with a CCD detector, the sensivity to vibration is reduced and a radius of curvature limit of 4 km has been obtained in situ. This technique also enables us to obtain a 2-dimensional profile of the surface curvature from the simultaneous reflection of a rectangular array of beams. Results from the growth of SiG alloy films are presented to demonstrate the unique information that can be obtained during growth
Competition between strain and interface energy during epitaxial grain growth in Ag films on Ni(001)
Numerical analysis of interface energy-driven coarsening in thin films and its connection to grain growth
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GaN Stress Evolution During Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition
The evolution of stress in gallium nitride films on sapphire has been measured in real- time during metal organic chemical vapor deposition. In spite of the 161%0 compressive lattice mismatch of GaN to sapphire, we find that GaN consistently grows in tension at 1050"C. Furthermore, in-situ stress monitoring indicates that there is no measurable relaxation of the tensile growth stress during annealing or thermal cycling