Electrical properties of sub-100 nm SiGe nanowires

In this study, the electrical properties of SiGe nanowires in terms of process and fabrication integrity, measurement reliability, width scaling, and doping levels were investigated. Nanowires were fabricated on SiGeon oxide (SGOI) wafers with thickness of 52 nm and Ge content of 47%. The first group of SiGe wires was initially formed by using conventional I-line lithography and then their size was longitudinally reduced by cutting with a focused ion beam (FIB) to any desired nanometer range down to 60 nm. The other nanowire group was manufactured directly to a chosen nanometer level by using sidewall transfer lithography (STL). It has been shown that the FIB fabrication process allows manipulation of the line width and doping level of nanowires using Ga atoms. The resistance of wires thinned by FIB was 10 times lower than STL wires which shows the possible dependency of electrical behavior on fabrication method.