Method of making relaxed silicon-germanium on insulator via layer transfer with stress reduction

A method of forming a silicon-germanium layer on a silicon oxide-on-silicon substrate, comprising:

• preparing a silicon substrate;
• depositing a layer of silicon-germanium on the silicon substrate to form a silicon/silicon-germanium portion having a SiGe/silicon interface;
• implanting hydrogen ions into the silicon substrate between about 200 Å to 1 μm below the silicon-germanium/silicon interface;
• preparing a silicon oxide-on-silicon substrate;
• bonding the silicon/silicon-germanium portion to the silicon oxide-on-silicon substrate by direct wafer bonding with the silicon-germanium layer in contact with the silicon oxide to form a couplet;
• thermally annealing the couplet in a first thermal annealing step at a temperature of between about 350° C. to 700° C. for a time of between about 30 minutes to four hours to split the bonded entity into a silicon portion and a silicon-germanium-on-oxide portion;
• patterning and etching the silicon-germanium-on-oxide portion to remove portions of the silicon and SiGe layers;
• etching the silicon-germanium-on-oxide portion to remove the remaining silicon layer;
• thermally annealing the silicon-germanium-on-oxide portion in a second thermal annealing step to form a relaxed SiGe layer;
• and
• depositing a layer of strained silicon about the SiGe layer.