Oxidation of strained Si in a microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma

Abstract

Electron cyclotron resonance plasma oxidation of strained Si on relaxed Si1−xGex buffer layers in O2 ambient at room temperature is reported. The electrical properties of grown oxide have been characterized and compared with thermally grown oxides using a metal-oxide semiconductor structure. At a low field, the accumulation of holes in the buried Si1−xGex layer, due to the type-II band offset, has been observed. The experimental results from thermally grown oxides have been compared with the simulation results obtained using a heterostructure Poisson solver.