Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Significant changes in strain are produced in SixGe1−x epitaxial films grown on Si and Ge (001) substrates as a result of low energy ion beam assisted molecular beam epitaxy (IAMBE). Films grown with concurrent Ar+ or Xe+ ion bombardment are coherent and uniformly strained in the growth direction by up to 1.5% in Ge films and 0.5% in Si films and contain no dislocations. The dependence of the films strain perpendicular to the growth surface on ion-atom flux ratio, and ion energy can be explained by the injection of uniformly distributed point defects. Post-growth isochronal annealing of SixGe1−x films suggests that the existing defects in the IAMBE films are defect complexes and that the strain relaxation path is determined by the overall thermodynamic driving force toward the strain-relieved state.