Defect analysis of n-type silicon strained layers

The structural and electrical properties of n-type silicon strained layers, sandwiched between Si1-chi Ge-chi layers, with chi = 0.15, 0.20 and 0.30 h ave been investigated using a combination of analytical techniques. Here, t he focus is on the application of deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) on pn junction structures, to assess non-radiative generation-recombination centres. It will be demonstrated that successful analysis can only be appl ied if the edges of the devices are chemically passivated. Finally, it is s hown that for low-leakage diodes, the quantum-well properties can, in princ iple, be extracted from the combined DLTS and capacitance-voltage/capacitan ce-temperature characteristics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.