Rare Gas Ion Implanted‐Silicon Template for the Growth of Relaxed Si1−xGex/Si (100)

P‐type (100) float zone Si wafers were implanted at room temperature by Ne or He at high dose (5×1016 cm−2) and low energy (50keV or 10keV respectively). Some of them were annealed at low (700°C) and high (1050°C) temperatures to form a close surface buried layer of tiny cavities and to test their thermal stability. Microscopic studies of these samples revealed that He‐implanted wafers were adequate substrates for epitaxial growth. Hence, as‐implanted He samples were carefully chemically cleaned to grow by low pressure chemical vapor deposition thin Si0.80Ge0.20 layers (about 170nm thick) at 600°C with a growth rate of (11.6±0.5) nm.mn−1. X‐ray diffraction measurements demonstrated that the final layer was fully relaxed. Meanwhile atomic force microscopic scans revealed that the surface roughness was low enough (0.3nm) to stand further silicon deposition. Etch pit counts yield a threading dislocation density of (2.3±0.7)×104 cm−2. Since this density value is about two orders of magnitude lower than what w...