ELSEVIER
Journal of Crystal Growth 157 (1995) 285-294
......... CRYSTAL
QROWTH
A silicon molecular beam epitaxy system dedicated to device-oriented
material research
W.-X. Ni *, J.O. Ekberg, K.B. Joelsson, H.H. Radamson, A. Henry, G.-D. Shen l,
G.V. Hansson
Department of Physics, Linkfiping University, S-581 83 Linki6ping, Sweden
Abstract
Design, performance test, doping capability and grown material quality of a Balzers UMS 630 Si MBE system are
reported, particularly concerning measures to obtain good quality of grown films. Good stability, reproducibility and
uniformity of deposition rates (Si and Ge) and doping concentrations (Sb and B) have been obtained for growth on a 4 inch
Si wafer with sample rotation using a mass-spectrometry controlled e-beam evaporation system, and home-made doping
sources, respectively. The quality of grown undoped and modulation doped Si and SiGe layered structures were evaluated
using high-resolution XRD, XTEM, SIMS, Hall, and PL measurements. Intense and sharp excitonic PL transitions and high
carrier mobility obtained from the grown Si/SiGe heterostructures and quantum wells grown at a wide substrate temperature
range (320-650°C) indicate high crystalline quality of grown films. Finally, test HBT structures with a thin SiGe base have
been made. Good de characteristics and frequency performance were obtained.
I. Introduction
With the challenge from current high-speed and
opto-electronic devices, high-quality Si-based epitax-
ial structures need to be grown with accurate control
at low temperatures. Large efforts have been made
during the past decade, and among the techniques
developed, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has
shown the capability to provide high-quality epitax-
ial Si-based thin film materials. As has been demon-
strated during the past few years, high-performance
SiGe-based heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs)
[1,2], high-mobility modulation doped field effect
* Correspondingauthor. E-mail: wxn@ifm.liu.se.
Present address: Departmentof ElectronicEngineering,Bei-
jing Polytechnic University, Beijing 100022,People's Republic of
China.
transistors (FETs) [3,4], far-infrared detectors [5,6],
and room temperature high-efficiency 1.3 /.~m SiGe
quantum dot light emitting diodes (LEDs) [7], etc.,
were successfully fabricated on Si/SiGe heterostruc-
ture materials grown using MBE. These new devices
have been expected to complement existing, well-
established Si technology, and will create a large
impact for the future electronic systems.
At the same time, the Si-based MBE technique
has also been challenged by other recently developed
low-temperature growth technologies, e.g. chemical
vapour deposition (CVD) combined with ultra-high
vacuum pumping capability [8], rapid thermal pro-
cessing [9], and fast gas switching facilities [10], etc.
Although both MBE and CVD now are able to
supply high purity, defect-free Si-based materials
with arbitrary doping profiles for various device
applications, to industrialise Si/SiGe heterojunction
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