Microfocus x-ray study of selective area epitaxy of SiGe on Si.

We describe an x-ray microprobe measurement of selectively grown heteroepitaxial Si[sub 1-x]Ge[sub x] on Si. The experiment was conducted at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility of Grenoble at the ID13 Microfocus beamline. The Si[sub 1-x]Ge[sub x] layers were deposited by a standard chemical vapor deposition process on patterned 200 mm wafers of monocrystalline Si substrate. The uniformity of the pseudomorphic layers, in terms of Ge content and thickness, is evaluated by double crystal x-ray diffraction with the use of a novel microgoniometer and with a spatial resolution of ∼5 × 7.5 µm². The results show the good uniformity of the SiGe layers and indicate the possibility of evaluating the strain fields near the shallow trench isolation structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]