Effects of high-temperature anneals and Co60 gamma-ray irradiation on strained silicon on insulator

Strained silicon on insulator was exposed to high-temperature annealing and high-dose Co60 gamma (γ) -ray irradiation to study the tenacity of the bond between the strained Si film and the underlying buried oxide. During the high-temperature anneals, the samples were ramped at a rate of 150°C/s to 850°C then ramped to 1200, 1250, and 1300 °C at a rate of approximately 5× 105 °Cs for millisecond duration anneals. For the irradiation experiments, the samples were irradiated with Co60 γ rays to a dose of 51.5 kGy. All samples were characterized by ultraviolet (UV) Raman, pseudo metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (ψ -MOSFET) current voltage, Hall mobility, and photoluminescence (PL) to verify changes in strain. UV Raman, PL, and ψ -MOSFET measurements show no strain relaxation for the high-temperature annealed samples and only very slight relaxation for the γ -ray irradiated samples.