Method of producing buried porous silicon-geramanium layers in monocrystalline silicon lattices

• US 5,685,946 A
• Filed: 02/15/1995
• Issued: 11/11/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The United States of America As Represented By The Secretary of Agriculture
• Original Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration
• Inventors: George, Thomas, Jones, Eric W., Fathauer, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): QUACH, TUAN N
• Application Number:
  US08/390,456
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 156/630.1, 156/662.1, 437/131, 148/33.4, 148/33.5, 257/19, 257/55
• US Class Current: 438/500
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 10/00 Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 20/00 Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 30/00 Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/30604 Chemical etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/161 including two or more of the elements provided for in group H01L29/16 , e.g. alloys H01L29/1604 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/165 in different semiconductor regions , e.g. heterojunctions
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/06 within the light emitting region, e.g. quantum confinement structure or tunnel barrier
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/34 containing only elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table

Abstract

Lattices of alternating layers of monocrystalline silicon and porous silicon-germanium have been produced. These single crystal lattices have been fabricated by epitaxial growth of Si and Si--Ge layers followed by patterning into mesa structures. The mesa structures are stain etched resulting in porosification of the Si--Ge layers with a minor amount of porosification of the monocrystalline Si layers. Thicker Si--Ge layers produced in a similar manner emitted visible light at room temperature.

Claims

1. A process for forming a monocrystalline silicon lattice having a high crystalline quality and having an embedded porous germanium-containing layer comprising:

a. epitaxially forming a thin monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer on a first monocrystalline silicon layer;

b. epitaxially forming a second monocrystalline silicon layer on the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer;

c. patterning the epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer into mesa structures; and

thereafter

d. transforming the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer by etching for a period of time under conditions and with an etchant operable for total porosification of the silicon-germanium layer but inoperable for porosification of more than a non-deleterious amount of the monocrystalline silicon layers, into a monocrystalline silicon lattice having a high crystalline quality and having an embedded porous germanium-containing layer.

2. The process of claim 1, further comprising controlling the epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer to produce a predetermined thickness thereof, and wherein the thickness is operable for minimizing strain relief in the silicon-germanium layer during etching, thereby enabling the porosification thereof to proceed at a rate greater than the rate of porosification of the silicon layers.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein the etchant is an etching solution, and further comprising controlling the thickness to produce a layer thickness operable for permitting the etching solution to penetrate the entire monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the period of time is operable for removing an amount of silicon from the silicon-germanium layer so that the germanium content of the embedded porous germanium-containing layer is from about 50 to about 100% atomically.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the period of time is operable for removing an amount of silicon from the silicon-germanium layer so that the germanium content of the embedded porous germanium-containing layer is at least about 90% atomically.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the etchant is selected from the group consisting of HF:

HNO₃ ;

H₂ O, HF;

NaNO₃ ;

H₂ O, HF;

HNO₃, HF;

HNO₃ ;

CH₃ COOH, and HF;

HNO₃ ;

CH₃ COOH;

H₂ O.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein the etching solution is HF:

HNO₃ ;

H₂ O having a concentration of 4;

1;

4 by volume, wherein the HF is 49% by weight, the HNO₃ is 70% by weight, and the etching is conducted from about 10 sec. to about 1 min.

8. The process of claim 6, wherein the etching solution is HF:

HNO₃ ;

H₂ O having a concentration of 4;

1;

6 by volume, wherein the HF is 49% by weight, the HNO₃ is 70% by weight, and the etching is conducted for about 10 sec. to about 1 min.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the patterning of epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer into mesa structures is by argon milling using an aluminum mask followed by stripping the aluminum mask.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the stripping is by contacting the aluminum mask with a phosphoric acid solution.

11. The process of claim 1, wherein the patterning of epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer into mesa structures forms mesa structures having a width of from about 0.1 μ

m to about 10 μ

m.

12. The process of claim 1, wherein the patterning of epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer into mesa structures forms mesa structures having a width of about 1 μ

m.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the patterning of epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer into mesa structures is by plasma etching.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer is conducted over a period of time operable for growing the layer to a thickness of from about 3 nm to about 100 nm.

15. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer is conducted over a period of time operable for growing the layer to a thickness of from about 5 nm to about 20 nm.

16. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon layer is conducted over a period of time operable for growth of the layer to a thickness of from about 5 nm to about 200 nm.

17. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon layer is conducted over a period of time operable for growth of the layer to a thickness of from about 20 nm to about 30 nm.

18. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium and monocrystalline silicon layers is conducted at a temperature of from about 300°

to about 700°

C.

19. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer is conducted at a temperature of from about 400°

to about 650°

C.

20. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer includes adjusting the relative amounts of silicon and germanium so that the layer stoichiometrically has the composition Si_1-x Ge_x, where x is from about 0.1 to about 0.6.

21. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer includes adjusting the relative amounts of silicon and germanium so that the layer stoichiometrically has the composition Si_1-x Ge_x, where x is about 0.3.

22. The process of claim 1, wherein epitaxially forming of a monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer includes dispersing a p-type dopant in the layer.

23. The process of claim 1, wherein the first monocrystalline silicon layer is a monocrystalline silicon substrate.

24. The process of claim 1, wherein the transforming of the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer is conducted in the absence of anodic etching.

25. A process for forming a monocrystalline silicon lattice having a high crystalline quality and having embedded porous germanium-containing layers comprising:

a. epitaxially forming a thin first monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer on a first monocrystalline silicon layer;

b. epitaxially forming a second monocrystalline silicon layer on the first monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer;

c. epitaxially forming another monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer on the last-mentioned monocrystalline silicon layer;

d. epitaxially forming another monocrystalline silicon layer on the last-mentioned monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer;

thereafter

e. patterning the epitaxially formed monocrystalline silicon-germanium layers into mesa structures; and

thereafter

f. transforming the monocrystalline silicon-germanium layers by etching for a period of time under conditions and with an etchant operable for total porosification of the silicon-germanium layers but inoperable for porosification of more than a non-deleterious amount of the monocrystalline silicon layers, into a monocrystalline silicon lattice having a high crystalline quality and having embedded porous germanium-containing layers.

26. The process of claim 25, further comprising repeating the steps for epitaxially forming another monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer and another monocrystalline silicon layer to form a number of pairs of monocrystalline silicon-germanium and monocrystalline silicon layers.

27. The process of claim 25, further comprising repeating the steps for epitaxially forming another monocrystalline silicon-germanium layer and another monocrystalline silicon layer to form from about 3 to about 50 pairs of monocrystalline silicon-germanium and monocrystalline silicon layers.

28. A process for forming a monocrystalline semiconductor first element lattice having a high crystalline quality and having an embedded porous semiconductor second element-containing layer comprising:

a. epitaxially forming a thin monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer of an alloy composition having a substantial amount of a first element and a substantial amount of a second element, on a first monocrystalline semiconductor layer of a first composition having a substantial amount of the first element, the alloy composition being atomically different than the first composition;

b. epitaxially forming a second monocrystalline semiconductor layer of the first composition, on the monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer;

c. patterning the epitaxially formed monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer into mesa structures; and

thereafter

d. transforming the monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer by etching for a period of time under conditions and with an etchant operable for total porosification of the semiconductor-alloy layers but inoperable for porosification of more than a non-deleterious amount of the monocrystalline semiconductor layers, into a monocrystalline semiconductor first element lattice having a high crystalline quality and having an embedded porous second element-containing layer.

29. The process of claim 28, further comprising controlling the epitaxially forming of the monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer to produce a thickness thereof, and wherein the predetermined thickness is operable for minimizing strain relief in the semiconductor-alloy layer during etching, thereby enabling the porosification thereof to proceed at a rate greater than the rate of porosification of the monocrystalline semiconductor layers of the first composition.

30. The process of claim 29, wherein the etchant is an etching solution, and further comprising controlling the thickness to produce a layer thickness operable for permitting the etching solution to penetrate the entire monocrystalline semiconductor-alloy layer.

31. The process of claim 28, wherein the first element is selected from the group consisting of C, Ge, Sn, Si, and mixtures thereof.

32. The process of claim 31, wherein the second element is selected from the group consisting of C, Ge, Sn, Si, and mixtures thereof.

33. The process of claim 28, wherein the amount of the first element is at least about 0.4% atomically and the amount of the second element is at least about 0.1% atomically.