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US 10,600,640 B2Granted
Reduction of surface roughness in epitaxially grown germanium by controlled thermal oxidation
AssigneeStratio
InventorsWoo-Shik Jung, Yeul Na, Youngsik Kim, Jae Hyung Lee, Jin Hyung Lee
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Abstract
Methods for reducing surface roughness of germanium are described herein. In some embodiments, the surface roughness is reduced by thermal oxidation of germanium. In some embodiments, the surface roughness is further reduced by controlling a rate of the thermal oxidation. In some embodiments, the surface roughness is reduced by thermal annealing.
Claims15
A method for reducing surface roughness in germanium, the method comprising:
- obtaining a substrate that includes a layer of germanium that has a top surface having a first surface roughness;
- depositing a capping layer of silicon oxide on the top surface of the layer of germanium so that the capping layer covers the entire top surface of the layer of germanium;
- and
- subsequent to the depositing, oxidizing the top surface of the layer of germanium through thermal oxidation by diffusing oxygen through the capping layer into the layer of germanium so that the top surface of the layer of germanium is converted into a layer of germanium oxide located on top of an unoxidized layer of germanium, causing a top surface of the unoxidized layer of germanium to have a second surface roughness that is less than the first surface roughness.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.