Structure imaging of commensurate GexSi1−x/Si(100) interfaces and superlattices

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Abstract
High resolution electron microscopy is used to study interfacial quality in commensurate GexSi1−x systems grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Structure images of interfaces have been obtained, yielding atomic‐scale information about sharpness and smoothness. From careful consideration of image contrast mechanisms at the interface, it is shown that variations in germanium concentration as low as about 5% may be detected under optimum conditions. Single interfaces of GexSi1−x exhibit no detectable diffusion of germanium into the silicon substrate and are locally sharp, but are not constrained to a single atomic plane. Interfacial quality is retained in a commensurate twenty‐period 75‐Å Ge0.4Si0.6/250‐Å Si(100) superlattice. The techniques described here are also applicable to other compositional phase boundaries such as in III‐V heterostructures.

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