Crystalline SiGe films grown on Si substrates using laser-assisted plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at low temperature.

Compared with conventional plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, laser-assisted plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LAPECVD) can be used to deposit crystalline SiGe films on Si substrates at low temperature. In the LAPECVD system, a CO2 laser with a wavelength of 10.6 μm was utilized to assist the pyrolytical decomposition of SiH4 and GeH4 reactant gases. The resultant Si0.78Ge0.22 films were obtained and verified through the use of the Auger electron spectroscopy measurement. As the diffraction pattern of a glancing incident angle X-ray diffraction measurement had indicated, several significant diffraction peaks corresponding to a diamond-cubic structure at (111), (220), and (311) were clearly observed. Crystalline SiGe films were also identified by the electron diffraction pattern of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]