Study of strained-silicon channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors by large angle convergent-beam electron diffraction

Strained-silicon p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (pMOSFETs) have been investigated by large angle convergent-beam electron diffraction (LACBED). Longitudinal compressive strain is induced into the channel region of a p-type strained-silicon channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor by a low-cost Ge pre-amorphization implantation for source/drain extension flow. Anomalously large longitudinal compressive strain, Lip to 2.5 x 10(-2). in the nanometer scale channel region of pMOSFETs has been measured using LACBED. We propose a novel scaling effect for the giant strain enhancement. Our experimental results and model analysis together reveal that the channel strain is inversely proportional to the shrinking channel length. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.