Strain measured in a silicon-on-insulator, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor device channel induced by embedded silicon-carbon source/drain regions

• Published in: Applied physics letters 2009-02, Vol.94 (6)
• Main Authors: Murray, Conal E., Ren, Z., Ying, A., Polvino, S. M., Noyan, I. C., Cai, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3079656

The strain imparted to 60 nm wide, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) channel regions by heteroepitaxially deposited, embedded silicon-carbon (e-SiC) features was measured using x-ray microbeam diffraction, representing one of the first direct measurements of the lattice parameter conducted in situ in an SOI device channel. Comparisons of closed-form, analytical modeling to the measured, depth-averaged strain distributions show close correspondence for the e-SiC features but 95% of the predicted strain in the SOI channel. Mechanical constraint due to the overlying gate and the contribution of SOI underneath the e-SiC in the diffracting volume to the measurements can explain this difference.