Direct formation of strained Si on insulator by laser annealing

Direct formation of strained Si on insulator has been investigated by using laser annealing. The silicon on insulator (SOI) and amorphous Si layers deposited on SOI substrates were irradiated with an excimer laser. After the laser annealing, crystal Si layers with a strain of ∼0.6% were successfully formed on the buried oxide. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy measurements revealed the high crystallinity (∼100%) and small surface roughness (∼0.64 nm) of the formed layers. These results demonstrate that laser annealing technique will be a useful tool to fabricate strained Si on insulator without SiGe buffer layers