About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
Journal of Applied Physics
Paper
High-resolution strain mapping in heteroepitaxial thin-film features
Abstract
Heteroepitaxial thin-film features that are lattice matched to the underlying substrate undergo elastic relaxation at the free edges of the feature. To characterize the degree of elastic relaxation, we employed synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction techniques to map the change in lattice spacing in the thin film at a submicron resolution. Measurements were conducted on 0.24-μm thick, heteroepitaxially grown SiGe strips of various widths on Si (001). A comparison of the SiGe diffraction peak positions across the features provides a real-space mapping of the extent of elastic relaxation as a function of linewidth. The resultant in-plane normal film stress measurements were compared to calculated values from several elastic mechanical models to assess their validity in predicting stress distributions within the features. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.