Si, SiGe, Strained Si

Prof. Juan Carlos González

www.fisica.ufmg.br/~gonzalez

1
 Programa
1 - Silício, SiGe, strained Si
1.1 - Introdução A1
1.2 - Propriedades estruturais A1
1.3 - Propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e vibracionais. A1
1.4 - Estrutura de bandas A2
1.5 - Propriedades elétricas e ópticas A2
1.6 - Propriedades de superfície A3
1.7 - Relevância dessa classe de materiais para dispositivos
eletrônicos. A3

2
 Introdução

Electronic Equipment
©NOKIA MEGATRENDS.PPT / 16.11.1998EKu
/ page: 6
$ 1000 billion / + 8% *)

Semiconductors
$ 250 billion /+15 % *)

Silicon Wafers
$ 8 billion /+13 % *)

Polysilicon
$ 0,7 billion
+14 % *)

*)
1970-2003
CAGR

3
4
5
6
7
8
 What is a Semiconductor?
• Low resistivity => “conductor”
• High resistivity => “insulator”
• Intermediate resistivity => “semiconductor”
– Generally, the semiconductor material used in
integrated-circuit devices is crystalline
• In recent years, however, non-crystalline semiconductors
have become commercially very important

polycrystalline amorphous crystalline

9
 Semiconductor Materials

Elemental:

Compound:

10
 The Silicon Atom
• 14 electrons occupying the 1st 3 energy levels:
– 1s, 2s, 2p orbitals filled by 10 electrons
– 3s, 3p orbitals filled by 4 electrons
To minimize the overall energy, the 3s and 3p
orbitals hybridize to form 4 tetrahedral 3sp orbitals
Each has one electron and
is capable of forming a bond
with a neighboring atom

11
12
13
14
15
 The Si Crystal
“diamond cubic” lattice
• Each Si atom has 4
nearest neighbors
• lattice constant
= 5.431Å
Coordination Number: 4
# atoms in the unit cell: 8

16
 Crystal structure Diamond Crystal structure Diamond
7 7
Group of symmetry Oh - Fd3m Group of symmetry Oh -Fd3m
3 22 3 22
Number of atoms in 1 cm 4.4·10 Number of atoms in 1 cm 5·10
-30 6 -30 6 -1
Auger recombination coefficient 10 cm /s Auger recombination coefficient Cn 1.1·10 cm s
-31 6 -1
Debye temperature 374 K Auger recombination coefficient Cp 3·10 cm s
3
Density 5.3234 g/cm Debye temperature 640 K
-3
Dielectric constant 16.2 Density 2.329 g cm

Effective electron masses ml 1.6mo Dielectric constant 11.7

Effective electron masses mt 0.08mo Effective electron masses ml 0.98mo

Effective hole masses mh 0.33mo Effective electron masses mt 0.19mo

Effective hole masses mlp 0.043mo Effective hole masses mh 0.49mo

Electron affinity 4.0 eV Effective hole masses mlp 0.16mo

Lattice constant 5.658 A Electron affinity 4.05 eV

Optical phonon energy 0.037 eV Lattice constant 5.431 A

Optical phonon energy 0.063 eV

17
 Thermal properties

11 - 11
Bulk modulus 7.5·10 dyn cm Bulk modulus 9.8·10
2 2
Melting point 937 °C dyn/cm
Melting point 1412 °C
-1 -1 -1 -1
Specific heat 0.31 J g °C Specific heat 0.7 J g °C
-1 -1 -1 -1
Thermal conductivity 0.58 W cm °C Thermal conductivity 1.3 W cm °C
2 -1 2
Thermal diffusivity 0.36 cm s Thermal diffusivity 0.8 cm /s
-6 -1 -6 -1
Thermal expansion, linear 5.9·10 °C Thermal expansion, linear 2.6·10 °C

Temperature dependence of thermal conductivity at

different doping level. p-Ge.
-3 3 15 16 18 19
Na (cm ): 1. 10 ; 2. 10 ; 3. 2.3·10 ; 4. 2·10 ; 5. 10 .

18
Thermal properties

19
Thermal properties

20
 Mechanical properties
11 2
11 - Bulk moduluss 9.8·10 dyn/cm
Bulk modulus 7.5·10 dyn cm
2 3
-3 Density 2.329 g/cm
Density 5.323 g cm
Hardness 7 on the Mohs scale
Hardness on the Mohs scale 6
2
-2 Surface microhardness (using Knoop's pyramid test) 1150 kg/mm
Surface microhardness (using Knoop's pyramid test) 780 kg mm
Cleavage plane { 111 }
Cleavage plane { 001 }

300 K 300 K
C11 = 12.60·1011 dyn cm-2 C11 = 16.60·1011 dyn/cm2,
C12 = 4.40·1011 dyn cm-2 C12 = 6.40·1011 dyn/cm2
C44 = 6.77·1011 dyn cm-2 C44 = 7.96·1011 dyn/cm2

21
22
23
Wave propagation Wave Character Expression for wave speed Wave speed
direction Wave speed
1/2 5 8.43
[100] VL [C11/ρ] 4.87 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 5.84
VT [C44/ρ] 3.57 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 9.13
[110] Vl [(C11+C12+2C44)/2ρ] 5.36 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 5.84
Vt|| Vt|| = VT = (C44/ρ) 3.57 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 4.67
Vt ort; [(C11-C12)/2ρ] 2.77 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 9.36
[111] V l' [(C11+2C12+4C44)/3ρ] 5.51 ·10
1/2 cm/s 5 5.10
V t' [(C11-C12+C44)/3ρ] 3.06 ·10
cm/s

Phonon Frequencies (in units of 1012 Hz)

phonon wavenumbers: phonon wavenumbers:
12 12
Ge νLTO(Γ25') 9.02 10 Hz Si νLTO(Γ25') 15.5 10
12 Hz12
νTA(X3) 2.385 10 νTA(X3) 4.5 10 Hz
Hz12 12
νLAO(X1) 7.14 10 Hz νLAO(X1) 12.3 10
12 Hz 12
νTO(X4 ) 8.17 10 Hz νTO(X4 ) 13.9 10
12 Hz 12
νTA (L3) 1.87 10 Hz νTA (L3) 3.45 10
12 Hz 12
νLA(L2') 6.63 10 Hz νLA(L2') 11.3 10
12 Hz 12
νLO(L1) 7.27 10 Hz νLO(L1) 12.6 10
12 Hz 12
νTO(L3') 8.55 10 Hz νTO(L3') 14.7 10
Hz

24
25
 Silicon-Germanium

One of the most characteristic features of the group IV silicon-

germanium random alloys concerns bulk Si1-xGex: Si and Ge are
miscible over the complete range of compositions. However, the large
splitting of the solidus/liquidus phase boundary makes it almost
impossible to pull bulk crystals of acceptable radial and axial
homogeneity in a composition range that differs from the pure materials
by more than a few atomic percent. On the other hand, the development
of low-temperature growth techniques, such as molecular beam epitaxy
or chemical vapor deposition, and the new concepts of energy band
engineering (first emerged for III-V materials in the seventies and
eighties) led to a fast increase of the number of groups dealing with thin
Si1-xGex films. The advantages gained by the introduction of thin Si1-
xGex films in their basic compatibility with standard silicon technologies
have made this heterostructure system an extremely interesting candidate
for production devices. The first commercial products in the high-
26
frequency analog market segment were introduced in spring 1998.
 Crystal structure Si (x=0) Diamond 300 K

Ge (x=1) Diamond 300 K

Si1-xGex Diamond (random alloy)

7
Group of symmetry Si (x=0) Oh -Fd3m 300 K
7
Ge (x=1) Oh -Fd3m 300 K
7
Si1-xGex Oh -Fd3m
3 22
Number of atoms in 1 cm Si (x=0) 5.0 · 10 300 K
22
Ge (x=1) 4.42 · 10 300 K
22
Si1-xGex (5.00-0.58x) · 10

Remarks

Bulk modulus Si1-xGex (97.9 - 22.8x) GPa 300 K

Si (x=0) 98 GPa 300 K

Ge (x=1) 75 GPa 300 K

-6 -1
Linear thermal expansion coefficien Si1-xGex (2.6 + 2.55x) x 10 K x <0.85, 300 K
-6 -1
Si1-xGex (-0.89 + 7.53x) x 10 K x >0.85, 300 K
-6 -1
Si (x=0) 2.6 x 10 K 300 K
-6 -1
Ge (x=1) 5.9 x 10 K 300 K

Debye temperature Si1-xGex (640 - 266x) K 300 K

Si (x=0) 640 K 300 K

27
 2 -3
Density Si1-xGex (2.329+3.493x-0.499x )g cm 300 K
-3
Si (x=0) 2.329 g cm 300 K
-3
Ge (x=1) 5.323 g cm 300 K
-2
Surface microhardness Si1-xGex (1150 - 350x) kg mm 300 K,
using Knoop's pyramid test

Dielectric constant (static) Si (x=0) 11.7 300 K

Ge (x=1) 16.2 300 K

Si1-xGexSi1-xGex 11.7 + 4.5x 300 K

2
Infrared refractive index n(λ) Si1-xGexSi1-xGex n= 3.42 + 0.37x + 0.22 x 300K

Si (x=0)Si (x=0) n = 3.42 300K

-5
n = 3.38(1 + 3.9·10 ·T) 77K < T < 400 K

Ge (x=1) n = 4.0 300K

-14 3 -1
Radiative recombination coefficient Si (x=0) 1.1 x 10 cm s 300 K
-14 3 -1
Ge (x=1) 6.4 x 10 cm s 300 K

Optical photon energy Si1-xGex (63 - 8.7x) meV Si - Si, 300 K

(35.+2.0x) meV Ge-Ge, 300 K

50 meV Si-Ge, 300 K

Si (x=0) 63 meV 300 K

Ge (x=1) 37 meV 300 K

28
 Effective electron mass Si1-xGex 0.92mo 300K, x < 0.85
(longitudinal)ml

0.159mo 300K, x > 0.85

Effective electron mass Si1-xGex 0.19mo 300K, x < 0.85

(transverse)mt

0.08mo 300K, x > 0.85

2/3
Effective mass of density of states mcd=M mc Si1-xGex 1.06mo 300K, x < 0.85
(for all valleys of conduction band)

1.55mo 300K, x > 0.85

2 1/3
Effective mass of the density of states mc=(ml+mt ) Si1-xGex 0.32mo 300K, x < 0.85
(in one valley of conduction band)

0.22mo 300K, x > 0.85

Effective hole masses (heavy) mhh Si (x=0) 0.537 mo 4.2 K

Ge (x=1) 0.33 mo

Effective hole masses (light) mlh Si (x=0) 0.153 mo

Ge (x=1) 0.0430 mo

Effective hole masses (spin-orbit-split ) mso Si1-xGex (0.23-0.135x) mo 300 K

Si (x=0) 0.234 mo

Ge (x=1) 0.095(7) mo 30 K

Effective mass of conductivity mcc= 3/(1/ml+2/mt) Si1-xGex 0.26mo 300K, x < 0.85

0.12m 300K, x > 0.85

2
Lattice constant a(x) Si1-xGex ( 5.431 + 0.20x + 0.027x ) A 300 K
29
 Ge (x=1) 374 K 300 K
2 o
Melting point Si1-xGex Ts (1412 - 738x + 263x ) C solidus, 300 K
(solidus)
2 o
Si1-xGex Tl (1412 - 80x - 395x ) C liquidus, 300 K
(liquidus)

Si (x=0) 1412 K 300 K

Ge (x=1) 937 K 300 K

-1 -1
Specific heat Si1-xGex (19.6 + 2.9x) J mol K
-1 -1
Si (x=0) 19.6 J mol K 300 K
-1 -1
0.7 J g K
-1 -1
Ge (x=1) 22.5 J mol K 300 K
-1 -1
0.31 J g K
-1 -1
Thermal conductivity Si1-xGex (0.046 + 0.084x) W cm K 0.2 < x <0.85; 300 K.

-1 -1
Si (x=0) 1.3 W cm K 300 K
-1 -1
Ge (x=1) 0.58 W cm K 300 K
2 -1
Thermal diffusivity Si (x=0) 0.8 cm s 300 K
2 -1
Ge (x=1) 0.36 cm s 300 K
-6 -1
Thermal expansion coefficient Si1-xGex α = (2.6 + 2.55x) x 10 K x < 0.85, 300 K

-6 -1
Si1-xGex α = (7.53 - 0.89x) x 10 K x > 0.85, 300 K

30
 Intro
Gate
• Processor Speed depends on Source Drain

•Gate length
•Current velocity Gate
Source Drain

Source: AmberWave

• More and more transistors

every year
• Higher and higher speeds
• CMOS can’t get much
smaller
• How can we continue
innovating and moving
Source: Intel faster? 31
Materials are the Solution

32
 History of Strained Silicon
• 1991-2001
– MIT professor Gene Fitzgerald develops strained
silicon and founded AmberWave (1998)
• August 2002
– Intel used strained silicon in the HT Prescott P4
Processor
– AMD contracts AmberWave to develop SS
– Other major chip manufactures consider SS

33
 How to Induce Strain?
• Mechanical Force
– Difficult to produce a large
amount of strain (only 0.12%)
– Even straining is hard to
accomplish
– Not practical for manufacturing
• Tensile Film
– Increases electron mobility only
• Epitaxial-Strain Inducing templates

Source: Press Bursala, 2003

34
 Epitaxial-Strain Inducing templates

(A) (B)
• (A) Ge is introduced into the lattice
• aSiGe>a Si
• (B) Si is deposited on top of the SiGe.
• Atoms align causing a strain in the lattice.

Strained Silicon, Justin Eberhardt, Victor Thompson, 2003

35
 Enhanced Performance

Source: M.T. Currie, et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, vol. 19, p. 2268 (2001)
36
 Programa
1 - Silício, SiGe, strained Si
1.1 - Introdução A1
1.2 - Propriedades estruturais A1
1.3 - Propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e vibracionais. A1
1.4 - Estrutura de bandas A2
1.5 - Propriedades elétricas e ópticas A2
1.6 - Propriedades de superfície A3
1.7 - Relevância dessa classe de materiais para dispositivos
eletrônicos. A3

37
38
Optical properties

39
40
41
42
43
44
45
How to make strained silicon
(process)
US 6,831,292 B2
Semiconductor Structures Employing Strained Material Layer
with Defined Impurity Gradients and Methods for Fabricating same

Source: AmberWave patent

46
 Why graded SiGe

Source: www.ncl.ac.uk/eece/research/groups/micro/web-sige.pdf

47
Why graded SiGe

48
 How does strained silicon works?

Review
Charge Carrier Mobility
e µ = mobility
 e = charge
τ = scattering time
m* m* = effective mass

Strained silicon: increase τ , decrease m*

49
Ge Si GaAs

50
 Electron mobility

Source: AmberWave

51
 Hole mobility

Source: AmberWave
52
53
 The System Strained Si on SiGe
[001] a//(x)
a//(x)

strained Si a^(x)

[010]
Si1-xGe x aSiGe(x)

[100] aSiGe(x)
aSiGe(x)

Two strain contributions:

Hydrostatic
Uniaxial → lower lattice symmetry
54
Tensile Strain Contribution on Band
Structure

4 2 4
4 2
EG 2
LH HH EG
LH HH LH
SO
HH
SO SO
Cubic Hydrostatic Uniaxial
silicon strain strain
55
Tensile Strain Contribution on Band
Structure

Band Structure
56
 Strain Contribution on the Valence Band
0.2
0.0
Si bulk Si/Si0.5Ge0.5
phonon HH 0.1
-0.1
LH

Energy (eV)
E(LH-HH)
Energy (eV)

-0.2 LH 0.0

-0.3 -0.1
SO

HH
-0.4 -0.2
SO

-0.5 -0.3

[100]  [110] [100]  [110]

Unstrained Si Si/SiGe

[100] [110] [010] LH Band [100] [110] [010] HH Band

57
Strain Consequences on Transport
Properties
< 1 % in HH

≈ 86 % in HH

F= 30 kV/cm

58
Transport Results: Quantization
Effects

Hole Velocity versus Electric Field

59
 Transport Results

3.5

3.0
Enhancement factor Low field mobility
2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

SiGe alloy composition

Hole Mobility Enhancement versus Strain

60
• P-type-compressive (SiGe on source and drain)
• N-type-tensile (silicon nitride capping film)
• Intel claims speed increase by 15-20% but
manufacturing cost increase by only 2%

Source: IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol.25, No.4, April 2004

61
 Problems: Dislocation

Thread dislocation density

1.00E+07

1.00E+06

(#/cm^2)
1.00E+05

1.00E+04
700 750 800 850 900 950
Growth Temperature (ºC)

Source: C.W. Leitz, et al., J. Appl. Phys., vol. 90, p2730 (2001)

• Dislocation density: f(growth temp, grading rate),

independent of overall concentration of Ge
• Dislocation affect local epitaxial growth rate, resulting in
rough surfaces
– Solution: Graded SiGe reduces the nucleation of dislocations

62
 Dislocation
• Graded layer TDD ~10^5/cm^2 or lower
• Uniform layer TDD~10^9/cm^2

Source: AmberWave
63
 Dislocations- current leakage
• Misfit dislocation at
the interface of
Strained silicon and
SiGe when the
strained silicon exceed
the critical thickness
• Acts as dislocation
pipes for off-current
leakage
Source: http://ej.iop.org/links/q52/OzA8pWMYfRCAvCbiyWotgQ/sst4_1_l02.pdf

64
 Diffusion of Ge
• High temperature processing steps required
after application of strained layer
• Speeds up the interdiffusion between the
strained layer and underlying material
• In particular, Ge diffuses into the strained
silicon layer, increasing alloy scattering,
affecting the performance

65
 Improvements for the Future
• Current technology: 90-nm process nodes
• New Variations: 65 nm and below
• SSOI – Strained Silicon-on-Insulator
• Dual Channel Heterostructure
–Circuits get improved transistors that switch faster
–Lower dynamic and static power

66
 What is SSOI?

Source: Amberwave
67
 SSOI Fabrication
• Forming strained
silicon on an
insulating substrate
starts with the
deposition of a
graduated strained
layer of silicon
germanium.
• On top of this, a
“relaxed” layer of
SiGe is formed.
• The strained silicon
layer is deposited on
top of the relaxed
layer
Source: IBM
68
 SSOI Fabrication Techniques
• Growth of epitaxial silicon-
germanium and silicon layers
• Wafer bonding
• Layer transfer technology
(Smart Cut)
• Trying to eliminate the SiGe
intermediate layer to produce a
true SSOI structure
• Reduce manufacturing
complexity and cost of the
Source: Amberwave
wafers

69
 Why use SSOI?
• Due to the layer of insulation between the
devices on the wafer: increases integration
density
• Up to 25% increase for memory or
repetitive structures
• At least 10% increase for logic circuits

70
 SSOI Efficiency Benefits
• Using SiGe (20% Ge) increases electron mobility
1.7-1.8 times ~ equivalent to 40% gain of current
• Aiming for a max between ratio of Ion vs. Ioff
• Increasing current that you can work with while
reducing leakage during the off state
• AMD switching to SOI have reported:
38% improvement in dynamic power
46% improvement in static power
~ 50% overall improvement

71
 SSOI Cost Benefits
• Cost: SSOI when used to full advantage
enables a simpler CMOS process
• Result: increases the ability to scale thus
greatly reducing cost of products built using
SSOI

72
 Dual Channel Heterostructure

Source: Amberwave
73
 Why DCH?
• Allow simultaneous integration of hole and
electron channel devices within the same layer
sequence
• Research results have shown great promise for
attaining symmetric electron and hole mobilities
for SiGe-based CMOS applications
• Significant hole mobility enhancements over bulk
Si

74
 Programa
1 - Silício, SiGe, strained Si
1.1 - Introdução A1
1.2 - Propriedades estruturais A1
1.3 - Propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e vibracionais. A1
1.4 - Estrutura de bandas A2
1.5 - Propriedades elétricas e ópticas A2
1.6 - Propriedades de superfície A3
1.7 - Relevância dessa classe de materiais para dispositivos
eletrônicos. A3

75
Duvidas ?

76