Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) Studies of the Structure of Si$_{1-x}Ge_x$/Si Surface Alloy

The Si$_{1-x}$ Gex/Si surface alloy (x = 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5), which are prepared by solid source MBE and have the SiGe epilayer thickness of 50$\AA$, are annealed with different parameters. The surface structure analyses of the heterostructure samples are made on a triple-axis X-ray diffractometer in grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) geometry. It has been found that with different annealing time (1.5h, 18h, 64h) and annealing temperature (550 $^{\circ}C$, 750 $^{\circ}C$), the SiGe epilayer experienced different strain relaxation process, which was deduced from the GIXRD measurements of the in-plane (220) diffraction peak of Si(001) substrate and the relevant (220) surface diffraction of SiGe epilayer. The results show that the stress relieving and the lateral strain relaxation in the SiGe/Si heterostructure can be promoted by correct annealing, which is very helpful for the preparation of SiGe/Si strained superlattice with fine strain crystallization..