Compliant Si nanostructures on SOI for Ge nanoheteroepitaxy—A case study for lattice mismatched semiconductor integration on Si(001)

The integration of lattice mismatched semiconductors on Si(001) is of fundamental importance to further increase the performance and/or functionality of today’s Si integrated circuits. The theory of compliant substrate effects offers the vision to integrate defect-free alternative semiconductor structures on Si. This concept is based on balancing the mismatch strain between the overgrowing epitaxial semiconductor and the Si substrate by a strain partitioning phenomenon. Using the Ge/Si heterosystem as a case study, we report by advanced 3rd generation synchrotron as well as laboratory techniques for materials characterization on the nanoscale clear experimental evidence for the compliance of Si nanoislands on SOI for selective Ge nanoheteroepitaxy. This integration concept is not limited to Ge but extendable to semiconductors like III-V and II-VI materials.