ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY INVESTIGATION OF TENSILE-STRESSED SILICON GROWN BY RAPID THERMAL CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION ON SI0.68GE0.32 RELAXED PSEUDO-SUBSTRATES

Rapid thermal chemical vapour deposition (RTCVD) has been applied to t he growth of silicon layers under tensile stress on relaxed Si0.68Ge0. 32 buffer layers at 610 and 810 degrees C. Their surface morphology wa s characterised with atomic height resolution by Tapping-mode atomic f orce microscopy (TM-AFM). While a uniform isotropic nanoroughness is r evealed on pseudo-substrates, a quite different roughness can be obser ved for silicon films. For high temperature grown films, high surface diffusion rates of adsorbed species enable an extended reconstruction of the Si (100) surface: large domains showing terraces as well as fac eted planes appear; the resulting non-uniform silicon film exhibits ea rly mechanical failure. In contrast, low temperature grown Si films ex hibit almost the same morphology as pseudo-substrates for thicknesses up to 15 nm with no apparent mechanical failure. For thicknesses beyon d 20 nm, terraces form on the steepest part of the slopes, whereas bey ond 80 nm [110] slip lines indicate the plastic yield of the film.