Strained Si films grown by chemical vapor deposition of trisilane on Ge buffered Si(100)

Relaxed Ge buffer layers were grown on Si substrates using a recently developed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach that combines digermylmethane and digermane precursors. Ultrathin Si films were deposited on these buffer layers at 420 °C by CVD using trisilane as a precursor. The Si films were studied with a variety of experimental techniques, with emphasis on Raman spectroscopy. The analysis of the Raman results shows that a thin (< 1 nm), fully strained Si–Ge alloy layer is formed at the Si–Ge interface. Pure Si grows on this transitional alloy with a strain that approximately follows the predictions from a simple equilibrium strain theory. These results are significant for Ge-based Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor applications that require a thin Si-layer to isolate the Ge channel from the high permittivity oxide.