Quantitative nanoscale local strain profiling in embedded SiGe metal-oxide-semiconductor structures

Mechanical strain by strain engineering has been widely used in Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors. Experimental convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) strain measurements and finite element calculations to quantitatively correlate the strain in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) sample with the actual device. It was found that the magnitude of the longitudinal strain, εx, along the channel direction, is about 20% higher in the TEM sample than in the real device. This combined approach can be used to explain data from other CBED studies of strained Si devices.