Metal-induced dislocation nucleation for metastable SiGe/Si

Abstract

A new mechanism of misfit dislocation nucleation is demonstrated. Deliberate contamination with approximately 0.003 monolayers of Cu and subsequent annealing at 600 °C is shown by transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, and defect etching to produce dislocation half loops in a 1.1 μm layer of Si0.93Ge0.07 on a silicon substrate.