Patent ID: 7226504

Claim:
A method of forming a SiGe layer having a relatively high germanium content and a relatively low threading dislocation density, comprising: preparing a silicon substrate; depositing, directly on the silicon substrate, a single, horizontal layer of strained SiGe to a thickness of between about 100 nm to 500 nm, wherein the germanium content of the SiGe layer is greater than 20%, by atomic ratio; implanting H+ ions into the SiGe layer at a dose of between about 1·10 16 cm −2 to 5·10 16 cm −2 , at an energy of between about 20 keV to 45 keV; patterning the single SiGe layer with photoresist; plasma etching the structure to remove selected portions of the single SiGe layer and to form trenches about regions having side dimensions of 4 μm or less; removing the photoresist; thermal annealing the substrate and the remaining SiGe layer, to relax the remaining SiGe layer to reduce threading dislocations thereby forming a low defect relaxed SiGe layer; in an inert atmosphere at a temperature of between about 650° C. to 950° C. for between about 30 seconds and 30 minutes; and depositing a layer of tensile-strained silicon directly on the relaxed SiGe layer, without any intervening layers, to a thickness of between about 5 nm to 30 nm.