News

10 May 2004

IQE RELEASES 20% STRAINED SILICON PRODUCT


IQE Silicon Compounds Limited of Cardiff, United Kingdom, is pleased to announce the release of its latest proprietary Strained Silicon product at 20% Ge strain. The material exhibits best in class characteristics in terms of surface micro roughness (at less than 1Å on 1μm x/μm field size), low threading and low pile up dislocation densities, germanium and thickness uniformity, as independently assessed by several wafer manufacturers and IDMs. In contrast to most other Strained Silicon products in the marketplace, IQE’s Strained Silicon product family exhibits virtually 100% strain relaxation at 10%, 17%,19% and now 20% Ge content wafers. Full lattice relaxation is critical in ensuring maximum levels of strain in the surface silicon film, hence maximising mobility enhancement and additionally, ensuring thermal stability during subsequent wafer processing.

Interest in Strained Silicon is growing rapidly, driven by the requirement for higher
k dielectrics at sub 100 nm IC technologies. To satisfy this demand IQE has developed a proprietary Strained Silicon process which provides very low levels of surface micro roughness, essential to ensuring high device yield and improved circuit performance. IQE’s strained silicon wafers are immediately available in both production or R & D quantities.

 

NOTE TO EDITORS:

IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of IQE plc, the leading global outsource supplier of advanced epiwafers to the Semiconductor Industry with manufacturing operations in the U.K. and U.S.A. The Silicon Compounds division was established in 2000 in Cardiff, U.K. and offers fully flexible, dedicated outsource services for silicon-based epitaxial structures. In addition to the range of state-of-the-art CVD epitaxial deposition reactors, the facility in Cardiff includes a class 1 cleanroom equipped with the very latest in wafer preparation and characterization tools. The Silicon Compounds business unit focuses on providing a high-quality, sub-contract epitaxial deposition service, specializing in high-technology inter-layer epitaxial films, including Silicon Germanium (SiGe) and high-end Bi-CMOS semiconductor processes.