| Germanium has a many advantages to silicon as a semiconductor material. Most importantly, Ge has a larger lattice mobility (hole and electron) compared to Si. The larger mobility provides a higher source injection velocity, which translates into higher drive current and smaller gate delay. In addition, the near-infrared photodetection and compatibility with Si technology of Ge-based materials, allow simultaneous fabrication of photodetectors and Si CMOS receiver circuits in a monolithically integrated fashion. The main disadvantage is that germanium based oxides are not stable and but rather soluble in water. But the inevitable shift to high-kappa/metal gate has made Ge a serious option nevertheless. In order for the semiconductor industry to take advantage of the properties of Ge, heterogeneous integration of Ge and Si must be possible since using bulk Ge is not viable. However, Ge growth on Si is hampered by the large lattice mismatch (4%) between Ge and Si which results in growth that is dominated by "islanding" and misfit dislocations. The following thesis, investigates both the islanding and dislocation density issues associated with this problem. A 90% reduction of surface roughness by hydrogen annealing is demonstrated accompanied with a theoretical model to explain these results. Using multi-steps of growth and hydrogen annealing, Ge layers on Si were achieved with dislocation density as low as 1x107cm-2 and Rrms surface roughness of 2.5nm. The method was patented and named, Multiple Hydrogen Annealing for Heteroexpitaxy (MHAH). A complete experimentally based theoretical model is provided that explains these results. In addition, MOSCAPS, a pMOS transistor, and a MSM photodetector are fabricated on the MHAH-Ge substrates. Also high-kappa/metal gate compatibility is demonstrated on MHAH-Ge. The electrical results indicate that MHAH-Ge approaches the electrical quality of bulk Ge. These results point to a promising step in achieving heterogeneous integration of a high mobility pure Ge channel transistor directly on Si using high-kappa/metal gate which may be used in future technology nodes. Finally, MHAH-Ge can be used for fabrication of Germanium on Insulator (GOI) needed for very high performance Ge based transistors. |
