Growth of relaxed Si1−xGex layers using an oxygen doped Si(O) compliant layer

The combination of a low temperature (LT) Si layer and an oxygen doped compliant layer grown at LT (200–250 °C) was studied for the growth of thin, flat and highly relaxed Si1−xGex layers. Samples with 15–45 nm thick oxygen doped layers were used for 100–140 nm thick relaxed Si1−xGex layers. 2-D XRD mapping determined the degree of relaxation and composition of the Si1−xGex layers. AFM was used to study the roughness of the highly relaxed layers. It was observed that the roughness decreased with decreasing thickness of the LT Si layer. Layers, which show moderate relaxation during growth and are further relaxed by annealing at 875 °C show the lowest roughness.