Transmission electron microscopy, conventional and high-resolution, is used to characterize the microstructural behavior of oxidized Ge0.78Si0.12 layers annealed in a reducing 95% N2+ 5% H2 ambient. An epitaxial Ge layer grows by solid-phase epitaxy on an underlying Ge0.78Si0.12 seeding layer with a Ge-Sio2 matrix positioned between them. Defect densities in the epitaxial Ge are significantly lower than in the underlying Ge0.78Si0.12. Microstructural details of this behavior are investigated.

The damage and strain produced in a nearly pseudomorphic Ge0.10Si0.90 film on Si(100) by implantation of 320 keV 28Si+ ions at 40 to 150 °C and doses from 1 to 30 x 10l4/cm2 have been measured by MeV 4He channeling spectrometry and high resolution x-ray diffractometry. Both the implantation-induced damage and strain are sensitive to the implantation temperatures. The damage as characterized by channeling decreases with the temperature of implantation for all doses and becomes minimal at 150 °C. The implantation-induced perpendicular strain does likewise, but an excess of about 6 % of its intrinsic strain remains at the strain maximum even at 150 °C.