Patent ID: 8518757

Claim:
A method, comprising: forming a pad layer on a top surface of a single-crystal silicon layer of a substrate, said substrate comprising said single-crystal silicon layer on a top surface of a buried silicon oxide layer and said buried silicon oxide layer on a top surface of a supporting silicon substrate; forming openings in said pad layer and etching trenches through said single-crystal silicon layer to said buried silicon oxide layer in said openings to form silicon regions from said single-crystal silicon layer; forming spacers on the entirety of sidewalls of said silicon regions exposed in said trenches; forming oxide regions in said silicon regions, said oxide regions in corners of said silicon regions proximate to both said sidewalls and said buried silicon oxide layer to convert said silicon regions to strained silicon regions, said oxide regions not extending to said pad layer; and after forming said oxide regions, removing at least a portion of said spacers and filling remaining spaces in said trenches with silicon to form filled regions abutting said strained silicon regions.