Elastic strain relaxation in free-standing SiGe/Si structures

The elastic strain relaxation in free standing SiGe/Si structures was investigated. The free-standing Si layers were fabricated supported at a single point by an SiO 2 pedestal and subsequently grew an epitaxial SiGe layer. The measured strain relaxation of the SiGe layer agrees well with that calculated using a force-balance model. Strained Si layers with biaxial tensile strain equal to 0.007 and 0.012.