Epitaxial growth of SiGe thin films by ion-beam sputtering

Epitaxial growth of Si and SiGe film on Si(100) substrate is investigated by employing a ion-beam sputtering technique. SiGe films are prepared by layer by layer sequence using the alternate sputtering method. Marked island growth of Ge film is confirmed at a higher substrate temperature than 600°C. Homo-epitaxial growth of Si starts at a substrate temperature of 400°C. At 600°C the RHEED image of Si film shows a clear streak pattern, further increasing to 670°C it shows a Kikuchi-line. As for Si0.75Ge0.25 film, hetero-epitaxial growth takes place at 450°C after poly-crystalline growth region. At 500°C hetero-epitaxial film with considerably good crystallinity is obtained with suppressing surface roughness.