Poisson Ratio of Epitaxial Germanium Films Grown on Silicon

An accurate knowledge of elastic constants of thin films is important in understanding the effect of strain on material properties. We have used residual thermal strain to measure the Poisson ratio of Ge films grown on Si ⟨001⟩ substrates, using the sin2 ψ method and high-resolution x-ray diffraction. The Poisson ratio of the Ge films was measured to be 0.25, compared with the bulk value of 0.27. Our study indicates that use of Poisson ratio instead of bulk compliance values yields a more accurate description of the state of in-plane strain present in the film.