The impact of the Al and Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes are investigated for fabricating the single crystalline Si1-xGex thick layers on large area Si substrates by screen-printing metallization process. From X-ray reciprocal space maps, Ge fraction in the fabricated Si1-xGex thick layers are found to increase up to 40% with increasing the Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes. On the other hand, the interface of the Si and Si1-xGex layers are getting winding with increasing the Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes. The Al-Si-Ge phase diagram indicated that uniform SiGe layer can be fabricated by adjusting the Al-Ge ratio in the pastes within the liquid phase region.
We report on a simple liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) of SiGe on Si (100) substrate based on printing and firing. LPE was performed using an Al-Ge mixed paste screen-printed on a Si (100) substrate followed by annealing above the Al-Ge eutectic temperature in air or in an Ar atmosphere. In the case of annealing in air at 800 °C, SiGe was formed between the mixed paste and the surface of the Si substrate. However, a wave-like oxide film was confirmed at the SiGe/Si interface, which hindered the growth of SiGe. On the other hand, annealing in the Ar atmosphere at 800 °C led to the successful formation of a more continuous, thicker SiGe film by suppressing the oxidation of Al. It can be concluded that LPE growth using printing and firing of Al-Ge mixed paste is a suitable method to grow SiGe with a low-cost and simple high-speed process.
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