RESUMO
We present a comparative study of the influence of the thickness on the strain behavior upon nanoscale patterning of ultrathin strained Si layers directly on oxide. The strained layers were grown on a SiGe virtual substrate and transferred onto a SiO(2)/Si substrate using wafer bonding and hydrogen ion induced exfoliation. The post-patterning strain was evaluated using UV micro-Raman spectroscopy for thin (20 nm) and thick (60 nm) nanostructures with lateral dimensions in the range of 80-400 nm. We found that about 40-50% of the initial strain is maintained in the 20 nm thick nanostructures, whereas this fraction drops significantly to approximately 2-20% for the 60 nm thick ones. This phenomenon of free surface induced relaxation is described using detailed three-dimensional finite element simulations. The simulated strain 3D maps confirm the limited relaxation in thin nanostructures. This result has direct implications for the fabrication and manipulation of strained Si nanodevices.
RESUMO
We report on the structural investigation of self-organized periodic microstructures (ripples) generated in Si(100) targets after multishot irradiation by approximately 100-fs to 800-nm laser pulses at intensities near the single shot ablation threshold. Inspection by surface sensitive microscopy, e.g., atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveal complex structural modifications upon interaction with the laser: even well outside the ablated area, the target surface exhibits fine ripple-like undulations, consisting of alternating crystalline and amorphous silicon. Inside the heavily modified area, amorphous silicon is found only in the valleys but not on the crests which, instead, consist of highly distorted crystalline phases, rich in defects.
