We are using the differences in terms of coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between germanium and silicon, to induce a tensile stress in a thin germanium layer transferred by the Smart Cut^{TM [1]} technique onto a silicon substrate. In this approach, a bulk germanium wafer is directly bonded on a bulk silicon wafer, using surface activated bonding (SAB)(5,6). Process integration advantages are the low defect density of bulk germanium and the tensile stress that can be tuned using the bonding temperature.

The adherence of SAB was high during bonding at relatively high temperatures (~250°C). Without any further heat treatment, the adherence was found to be 3500mJ/m² by the double cantilever beam method (under prescribed displacement control and in an anhydrous atmosphere). This remarkable adherence prevented the Ge/Si heterostructure from sliding, debonding and cracking (7). The CTE difference could thus generate a large amount of tensile stress during the heterostructure cooling and splitting steps.

First of all, using finite elements simulation, a model was designed to predict the bow and the in-plane internal stress after bonding and cooling of the heterostructure. Thanks to it, we could also evaluate those two values after layer transfer (splitting step). This numerical approach was more accurate than the former analytic method (Timoshenko), which did not include the non-linearity of CTE with temperature and for large displacements. Figure 1 shows the bow and the in-plane stress expected for a bonding at 250°C of, respectively, a Si/Si homostructure (Figure1.a) and a strained Ge/Si heterostructure (Figure1.b), when cooled down to room temperature. The former is flat while the bow of the latter is large indeed.

Then, based on indications collected from simulations, we performed the bonding of a Si/Si homostructure in an EVG®ComBond® at 250°C. The same bonding conditions were used for an implanted germanium on silicon heterostructure. As shown in Figure 2, both bond pairs exhibited a bow close to that from FE simulations.

After that, a splitting step was carried out, resulting in a thin germanium film on a silicon wafer (200mm), as shown in Figure 3. The film was transferred almost to the whole surface. The bow after splitting was of 10µm, a value not so far from the simulated value of 28.6 µm.

As far as tensile stress was concerned, we used X-Ray Diffraction to gain access to the lattice parameter deformation and thus the tensile stress, 0.05% and 72 MPa, respectively (Figure 4). In comparison, FE simulation gives us 107 MPa of tensile stress after splitting. The main advantage of our approach is the lack of misfit dislocations in the Ge film, at variance with Ge epitaxy on Si (with a threading dislocations density typically around 10⁷ cm^-2, then).

The presentation will focus, first, on the simulation tool and the manufacturing process used to fabricate such stressed germanium films. Then, stress calculus will be detailed. Finally, TEM imaging of cross-sections, XRD and bow measurements will help us better understand the specificities of such thin Ge films transferred on Si bulk wafers.

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[1] Trademark from S.O.I.T.E.C. .S.A.