Single Crystal SiGe/Sapphire Epitaxy

This innovation is based on a new fabrication method that alleviates the thermal loading requirement of the substrate, which previously required surface temperatures within the range of 850 to 900C. Our method employs a new thermal loading requirement of sapphire substrate for growing single crystal SiGe on sapphire substrate, in the range of 450 to 500C. SiGe/sapphire wafers produced via this process show a high reflectivity without the discoloration that appears in low quality films. NASA&#39s Langley Research Center has developed a new, low temperature method of SiGe/sapphire growth that produces the same single crystal films with much less thermal loading effort to the substrate. This eliminates the time-consuming and costly high heating, long thermal soak times, and interfacial Si layer. Yield and throughput are increased as time to production is reduced from over 4 hours to less than 1 hour. The same quality of SiGe/sapphire is produced with far less effort and time, bringing it to within the realm of mass production.