Integration of strained and relaxed silicon thin films on silicon wafers via engineered oxide heterostructures: Experiment and theory

Strained and relaxed single crystalline Si on insulator systems is an important materials science approach for future Si-based nanoelectronics. Layer transfer techniques are the dominating global integration approach over the whole wafer system but are difficult to scale down for local integration purposes limited to the area of the future device. In this respect, the heteroepitaxy approach by two simple subsequent epitaxial deposition steps of the oxide and the Si thin film is a promising way. We introduce tailored ( Pr 2 O 3 ) 1 − x ( Y 2 O 3 ) x oxide heterostructures on Si(111) as flexible heteroepitaxy concept for the integration of either strained or fully relaxed single crystalline Si thin films. Two different buffer concepts are explored by a combined experimental and theoretical study. First, the growth of fully relaxed single crystalline Si films is achieved by the growth of mixed Pr YO 3 insulators on Si(111) whose lattice constant is matched to Si. Second, isomorphic oxide-on-oxide epitaxy is exploited to grow strained Si films on lattice mismatched Y 2 O 3 / Pr 2 O 3 / Si ( 111 ) support systems. A thickness dependent multilayer model, based on Matthew's approach for strain relaxation by misfit dislocations, is presented to describe the experimental data.