Monocrystalline Si1-xGex (011) layers, where x was less than 0.35, were grown onto double-domain Si(011)-(16 x 2) surfaces from Si2H6/Ge2H6 mixtures at temperatures of between 400 and 950C. Temperature-programmed desorption showed that the structure of the Si(011)-(16 x 2) surface unit cell was composed of 16 adatoms and eight π-bonded dimers with a dangling-bond density which was half that of the 1 x 1 surface. It was noted that the Si1-xGex (011) overlayers were 16 x 2 when x was less than a critical value and were 2 x 8 when x was greater than that value (which depended upon the deposition temperature). The magnitude of the critical x-value decreased from about 0.10 at a deposition temperature of 475C, to 0.08 at 550C and to 0.06 at 650C. Both the 2 x 8 and 16 x 2 surface reconstructions gradually and reversibly transformed into 1 x 1 at a deposition temperature of between 650 and 725C. At temperatures above 650C, the deposition rate increased, due initially to an increase in the steady-state dangling bond coverage as the surface reconstruction gradually transformed to 1 x 1. A continued increase in the rate at higher temperatures was associated with strain-induced roughening.

Growth of Si1-xGex(011) on Si(011) 16 x 2 via gas-source molecular beam epitaxy N.Taylor, H.Kim, T.Spila, J.A.Eades, G.Glass, P.Desjardins, J.E.Greene: Journal of Applied Physics, 1999, 85[1], 501-11