Study of strained-silicon channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors by large angle convergent-beam...

Strained-silicon p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (pMOSFETs) have been investigated by large angle convergent-beam electron diffraction (LACBED). Longitudinal compressive strain is induced into the channel region of a p-type strained-silicon channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor by a low-cost Ge pre-amorphization implantation for source/drain extension flow. Anomalously large longitudinal compressive strain, up to 2.5 x 10(-2), in the nanometer scale channel region of pMOSFETs has been measured using LACBED. We propose a novel scaling effect for the giant strain enhancement. Our experimental results and model analysis together reveal that the channel strain is inversely proportional to the shrinking channel length.