Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
A MBE growth procedure of epitaxial silicon layers is demonstrated which includes a special designed buried strained compositionally graded Si1−xGex layer. Upon thermal relaxation closed dislocation loops are formed in this Si1−xGex layer without altering the structure of the Si top layer. This dislocated layer is shown to getter contaminants in the Si top layer reducing the concentration of deep levels in this layer to ≈1 × 1012 cm−3.