High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction of Epitaxial Thin-Films and Patterned Nanostructures

摘要

For the past few generations of CMOS technology, the introduction of innovative materials and processes has been critical, in addition to lithographic scaling, for keeping the semiconductor industry following Moore's law. Strain engineering to increase the carrier mobility and hence drive current, as well as the introduction of high-k / metal gates to reduce leakage current, serve as notable examples of such innovation. Strain engineering through the selective epitaxial growth of SiGe(B) in the source/drain regions of transistors has been widely used by many logic manufacturers for some time. The epitaxial material creates compressive in-plane strain in the adjacent Si channel to improve the hole mobility in PMOS transistors. Recently, selective epitaxial growth of Si:C(P) or Si:P has been introduced by some manufacturers to create tensile in-plane strain in the channel of NMOS transistors to improve the electron mobility.