Depth profiles of the interfacial strains of Si(0.7)Ge(0.3)/Si using three-beam Bragg-surface diffraction

Interfacial strains are important factors affecting the structural and physical properties of crystalline multilayers and heterojunctions, and the performance of the devices made of multilayers used, for example, in nanowires, optoelectronic components, and many other applications. Currently existing strain measurement methods, such as grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), cross-section transmission electron microscope, TEM, and coherent diffractive imaging, CDI, are limited by either the nanometer spatial resolution, penetration depth, or a destructive nature. Here we report a new non-destructive method of direct mapping the interfacial strain of [001] Si(0.7)Ge(0.3)/Si along the depth up to ~287 nm below the interface using three-beam Bragg-surface X-ray diffraction (BSD), where one wide-angle symmetric Bragg reflection and a surface reflection are simultaneously involved. Our method combining with the dynamical diffraction theory simulation can uniquely provide unit cell dimensions layer by layer, and is applicable to thicker samples.