Lateral epitaxial growth of germanium on silicon oxide

We have developed a method using local oxidation on silicon to create nanoscale silicon seeds for the lateral epitaxial overgrowth of germanium on silicon oxide. The germanium growth starts selectively from silicon seed lines, proceeds by wetting the Si O2 layer and coalesces without formation of grain boundary. Analysis by high resolution transmission electron microscopy have shown that Ge layers grown above silicon oxide are perfectly monocrystalline and are free of defect. The only detected defects are situated at the GeSi interface. Geometrical phase analyses of the microscopy images have shown that the Ge layer is fully relaxed and homogeneous. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.