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Microstructure evolution in amorphous Ge/Si multilayers grown by magnetron sputter deposition

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Abstract

Microstructure evolution in amorphous Ge/Si multilayers grown by dual-target dc magnetron sputtering was investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and growth simulations. In films grown under low intensity ion-irradiation conditions, the structure is columnar with low-density regions along column boundaries where layer intermixing was observed. By increasing the low-irradiation intensity (controlled by an applied negative substrate-bias), structures with smooth and well-defined layers could be grown. This was achieved at bias voltages between 80 and 140 V, depending on the sputtering gas pressure. As the ion-irradiation intensity is further increased, ion-induced intermixing degrades the layer interfaces and finally an amorphous Si1–xGex alloy forms. The combination of x-ray diffraction measurements and reflectivity calculations reveals an asymmetry between the Ge/Si and Si/Ge interface widths due, primarily, to a corresponding asymmetry in incident particle energies during the growth of alternate layers.

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Author notes

  1. K. Järrendahl

    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7907, USA

  2. I. Ivanov

    Present address: 225 Walter Scott Engineering Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588-0656, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Thin Film Physics Division, Linköping University, S-581 83, Linkoping, Sweden

    K. Järrendahl, I. Ivanov & J-E. Sundgren

  2. Research Institute for Technical Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 76, H1325, Budapest, Hungary

    G. Radnóczi & Zs Czigany

  3. Department of Materials Science, the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and the Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    J. E. Greene

Authors
  1. K. Järrendahl
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  2. I. Ivanov
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  3. J-E. Sundgren
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  4. G. Radnóczi
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Correspondence to K. Järrendahl.

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Järrendahl, K., Ivanov, I., Sundgren, JE. et al. Microstructure evolution in amorphous Ge/Si multilayers grown by magnetron sputter deposition. Journal of Materials Research 12, 1806–1815 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1997.0249

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1997.0249

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