Method for fabricating SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) and Ge-on-insulator (GOI) substrates
View Patent ↗A method for fabricating germanium-on-insulator (GOI) substrate materials, the GOI substrate materials produced by the method and various structures that can include at least the GOI substrate materials of the present invention are provided. The GOI substrate material include at least a substrate, a buried insulator layer located atop the substrate, and a Ge-containing layer, preferably pure Ge, located atop the buried insulator layer. In the GOI substrate materials of the present invention, the Ge-containing layer may also be referred to as the GOI film. The GOI film is the layer of the inventive substrate material in which devices can be formed.
1. A semiconductor wafer comprising:
a semiconducting or non-semiconducting substrate;
a buried insulator layer located on an upper surface of the substrate;
an intermediate adhesion layer located on an upper surface the buried insulator layer; and
a Ge-containing layer having an exposed upper surface located on an upper surface of the intermediate adhesion layer, wherein said intermediate adhesion layer provides a bond between said buried insulator layer and said Ge-containing layer and eliminates Ge-oxide from said wafer and said Ge-containing layer represents the uppermost layer of the wafer.
2. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein a surface of the Ge-containing layer that is in contact with the intermediate adhesion layer is roughened.
3. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said substrate is a semiconducting substrate which comprises a semiconductor selected from the group consisting of Si, SiC, SiGe, SiGeC, Ge, GaAs, InAs, InP and other III/V or II/VI compound semiconductors.
4. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said substrate is a Si-containing semiconductor substrate selected from the group consisting of Si, SiGe, SiC, SiGeC, Si/Si, Si/SiC, Si/SiGeC and preformed silicon-on-insulators.
5. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said substrate comprises strained layers, unstrained layers or a combination thereof.
6. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said buried insulator layer is a crystalline or non-crystalline oxide, nitride or combination thereof.
7. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said buried insulator layer comprises SiO 2 .
8. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 further comprising a buried diffusive mirror located in between the buried insulator layer and another buried insulator.
9. The semiconductor wafer of claim 8 wherein the buried diffusive mirror is corrugated.
10. The semiconductor wafer of claim 9 wherein the buried diffusive mirror comprises a metal.
11. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said intermediate adhesion layer is a Si material.
12. The semiconductor wafer of claim 11 wherein said Si material is single crystal Si, polycrystalline Si, amorphous Si, epitaxial Si or combinations and multilayers thereof.
13. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said Ge-containing layer is a pure Ge layer.
14. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein said Ge-containing layer is a thin layer having a thickness from about 1 nm to about 1000 nm.
15. A semiconductor structure comprising at least the semiconductor wafer of claim 1 and at least one device or circuit located thereon.
16. The semiconductor structure of claim 15 wherein the device is a Ge-photodetector.
17. The semiconductor structure of claim 15 wherein the circuit is a Si-containing circuit.
18. The semiconductor structure of claim 15 wherein said device or said circuit is monolithically integrated.