Investigation of recrystallization and stress relaxation in nanosecond laser annealed Si1-xGex/Si epilayers

Abstract 30 nm-thick pseudomorphic Si1-xGex layers with Ge concentrations x ranging from 0 to 0.4 were submitted to Ultraviolet Nanosecond Laser Annealing (UV-NLA). The impact of UV-NLA on the various regimes and on the layer crystallinity was assessed for each Ge concentration. This study highlighted the existence of four annealing regimes, with notably a surface melt regime with isolated molten islands on the surface. The strain in the layer depended on the liquid/solid interface roughness and on the stored elastic energy in the layers. In the case of smooth liquid/solid interfaces, a limit for perfect recrystallization was estimated near 750 mJ/m2.