Coherent lateral-growth of Ge over insulating film by rapid-melting-crystallization

In rapid-melting-crystallization of network Ge-on-insulator (GOI), coalescence of growth-fronts inevitably occurs. To clarify crystallinity of the coalesced regions of two growth-fronts in GOI stripes, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses are performed. These analyses reveal that lattice planes of two growth-fronts coherently align without strains for short growth-distance (≤ 5 μm). The lattice planes at growth-fronts start to tilt gradually for growth-distance above 5 μm. For intermediate growth-distance (5-150 μm), slightly-tilting lattice-planes coherently align without generating any defects, where locally-distributed strains are induced in the coalesced regions. On the other hand, for long growth-distance (≥ 150 μm), grain-boundaries are generated in coalesced regions, and the locally-distributed strains are relaxed. The coherent lattice-alignment for growth-distance below 150 μm is attributed to atomic reordering in the coalesced regions, where coalescence occurs at high temperatures around the solidification point of Ge.