ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the developments of silicon–germanium and silicon–germanium– carbon epitaxies by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) and their integration in complex technologies. It presents the RTCVD technique in terms of equipments and process capabilities for SiGe epi. The chapter discusses the important points of the Si-based alloy epitaxy: surface preparation, low-temperature epi (LTE), germanium and carbon incorporation, and selective epi. LTE is usually obtained with hydrides like silane- or chlorides-like dichlorosilane. The chapter illustrates the RTCVD capabilities giving a few examples of current applications developed at STMicroelectronics. It explains the selection is very limited: epitaxial base of heterojunction bipolar transistor, epi for gate-all-around MOS and epi on ultrathin silicon on insulator films. In addition to that, ultrathin Silicon on insulator with an improved electrostatic integrity should dramatically improve short-channel effects that are important issues in advanced digital complementary metal oxide semiconductor with ultrashort channels.
