(Invited) Epitaxial Growth of Si:C Alloys: Process Development and Challenges

Uniaxial tensile strain in the channel enhances electron mobility and hence the drive current in an N-type field-effect transistor (NFET). For enhancement of NFET drive current via channel strain, the incorporation of embedded silicon carbon (eSi:C) alloys in the source/drain region has been investigated extensively. We have explored epitaxially grown embedded Si:C alloys for NFET source / drain stressor. The use of epitaxially grown intrinsic Si:C has a significant disadvantage due to incompatability with downstream processing. In situ phosphorus doped Si:C shows much more promise, especially from a strain retention perspective post growth.