Publication

Impact of virtual substrate quality on performance enhancements in strained Si/SiGe heterojunction n-channel MOSFETs (2003)

Author(s): Olsen SH, O'Neill AG, Norris DJ, Cullis AG, Fobelets K, Kemhadjian HA

    Abstract: The performance of surface channel MOSFET devices is dependent on the Si/SiO2 interface roughness. This paper examines the performance demonstrated by strained Si/SiGe heterojunction n-channel MOSFET devices (HNMOSFETs) fabricated on ultra-low pressure CVD (ULPCVD) material compared with unstrained Si control devices. The surface channel HNMOSFETs were found to exhibit performance enhancements in terms of transconductance of approximately 135% compared with their Si counterparts. In addition, the electrical characteristics of the HNMOSFETs displayed increased uniformity and improvements in the peak transconductance in excess of 75% compared with equivalent devices fabricated on strained Si/SiGe GS-MBE material. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that the favourable characteristics of the ULPCVD strained Si/SiGe devices are due to reduced cross-hatch severity of the ULPCVD material, which is shown to decrease nanoscale roughness at the Si/SiO2 interface.

      • Date: 12-03-2003
      • Journal: Solid State Electronics
      • Volume: 47
      • Issue: 8
      • Pages: 1289-1295
      • Publisher: Pergamon
      • Publication type: Article
      • Bibliographic status: Published
      Staff

      Professor Anthony O'Neill
      Siemens Professor of Microelectronics

      Dr Sarah Olsen
      Senior Lecturer