A study of structural perfection of interfaces in Si/SiGe superlattices

A complex investigation into the structural perfection of the Si/SiGe super lattices grown by molecular-beam epitaxy at different temperatures of the S i substrate has been carried out by high-resolution X-ray diffraction analy sis, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and transmission electron micr oscopy (TEM). It is demonstrated that the combination of these methods make s it possible to describe in sufficient detail the distributions of the str ains and Ge concentrations in the elastically strained superlattices and al so to evaluate the sharpness of the layer interfaces. It is shown that the densitometry of electron microscope images of the superlattice cross-sectio ns permits characterization of the relative sharpness of the layer interfac es and a qualitative representation of the Ge distribution throughout the t hickness of the SiGe layers. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".