Growth and characterization of germanium epitaxial film on silicon (001) with germane precursor in metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) chamber

The quality of germanium (Ge) epitaxial film grown directly on a silicon (Si) (001) substrate with 6 degrees off-cut using conventional germane precursor in a metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) system is studied. The growth sequence consists of several steps at low temperature (LT) at 400 degrees C, intermediate temperature ramp (LT-HT) of similar to 10. C/min and high temperature (HT) at 600 degrees C. This is followed by post-growth annealing in hydrogen at temperature ranging from 650 to 825 degrees C. The Ge epitaxial film of thickness similar to 1 mu m experiences thermally induced tensile strain of 0.11 % with a treading dislocation density (TDD) of similar to 10(7)/cm(2) and the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of similar to 0.75 nm. The benefit of growing Ge epitaxial film using MOCVD is that the subsequent III-Vmaterials can be grown in-situ without the need of breaking the vacuum hence it is manufacturing worthy. (C) 2013 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.