Residual stress effect on electron mobility in ZMR-SOI

N-channel enhancement-mode MOSFETs have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films prepared by both infra-red and laser zone-melting recrystallisation (ZMR). The SOI films are subjected to a lateral tensile stress due to the thermal expansion coefficient difference between silicon and silicon dioxide. The devices in the stressed films exhibit higher surface electron mobilities than those in bulk single crystal silicon. This phenomenon has been attributed to the influence of the stress through the change of the band structure as well as redistribution of carriers in k space.