High-quality thermal oxide grown on high-temperature-formed SiGe

We have developed a high-quality gate oxide on Si0.6Ge0.4 with a 30 Angstro m Si top layer. The good oxide integrity comparable to conventional thermal oxide is demonstrated by the low interface trap density of 6.2 X 10(10) eV (-1) cm(-2), low bride charge of 5.8 X 10(10) cm(-2), small leakage current at 3.3 V of 4.2 x 10(-8) A/cm(2), high breakdown field of 13.8 MV/cm, good charge-to-breakdown of 5.2 C/cm(2), and small stress-induced leakage curre nt. This good oxide integrity is directly related to our previously develop ed SiGe formed by solid phase epitaxy at high temperatures that is stable d uring thermal oxidation. This simple process is fully compatible with exist ing very large scale integration technology. (C) 2000 The Electrochemical S ociety. S0013-4651(99)10-038-7. All rights reserved.