A Survey of Defects in Strained Si Layers

A new method for highlighting defects in thin Si/SiGe layers is used to investigate the densities of various types of defects present in strained Si layers grown on relaxed SiGe layers. Defect densities were measured in strained Si layers formed on graded SiGe buffer layers (bulk), as well as silicon germanium-on-insulator substrates (SGOI), from both external and internal sources. The result of this investigation indicates that in addition to threading dislocations (TDs) and dislocation pile-ups, planar defects, i.e., stacking faults, are present in all but one of the materials studied. Due to the larger crystalline area affected by these planar defects, citation of only TD density as an indication of material quality is inadequate. A better measure of crystalline quality should include the density of TDs, pile-up clusters and planar defects (stacking faults) as well as some indication of the length distribution of the pile-ups and stacking faults.