Pulsed laser crystallization of silicon-germanium films

Pulsed-XeCl excimer laser crystallization of germanium (Ge) and silicon-germanium (SiGe) alloy films formed on quartz glass substrates was investigated. The transient conductance measurements reveled that germanium films were rapidly melted and solidified because of low latent heat compared to silicon films. Formation of silicon-germanium alloy was also observed in the case of laser annealing the Ge/Si layered structure. The crystalline volume ratio was estimated almost 1.0 for Si0.4Ge0.6 films because of small disordered electronic states at grain boundaries, while it was 0.85 for Si films.