Effects Of High-Temperature Anneals And Co-60 Gamma-Ray Irradiation On Strained Silicon On Insulator

Strained silicon on insulator was exposed to high-temperature annealing and high-dose Co-60 gamma (gamma)-ray irradiation to study the tenacity of the bond between the strained Si film and the underlying buried oxide. During the high-temperature anneals, the samples were ramped at a rate of 150 degrees C/s to 850 degrees C then ramped to 1200, 1250, and 1300 degrees C at a rate of approximately 5x10(5) degrees C/s for millisecond duration anneals. For the irradiation experiments, the samples were irradiated with Co-60 gamma rays to a dose of 51.5 kGy. All samples were characterized by ultraviolet (UV) Raman, pseudo metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (Psi-MOSFET) current voltage, Hall mobility, and photoluminescence (PL) to verify changes in strain. UV Raman, PL, and Psi-MOSFET measurements show no strain relaxation for the high-temperature annealed samples and only very slight relaxation for the gamma-ray irradiated samples. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.