REGROWTH AND STRAIN RECOVERY OF SB IMPLANTED SI1-XGEX STRAINED LAYERS

Solid phase epitaxial growth (SPEG) and strain recovery of Sb implante d strained Si1-xGex alloy layers are reported. Three sets of Si1-xGex epilayers with compositions of x = 0.08, 0.10 and 0.18, MBE grown on ( 100)Si substrates, were implanted at room temperature with Sb+ ions at energies of 200 and 100 keV, and doses of 10(12), 10(13) and 10(15) c m-2. These alloys were heat-treated in a rapid thermal annealing syste m at temperatures between 500 and 1000-degrees-C for durations between 5 and 600 s. Ion backscattering (channeling) measurements show a decr ease in the regrowth rate compared to Sb implanted (100)Si. The growth rate for x = 0.08 was characterized by an activation energy of 2.9 +/ - 0.2 eV. Double crystal X-ray diffraction measurements of lattice dis tortion show that the radiation damage changes the strain levels of th e epilayers depending on the Ge content of the SiGe and on implantatio n parameters. However, the post-irradiation damage does not reduce the strain stability of SiGe layers with respect to dislocations formatio n.