Micromachining of pulsed laser annealed PECVD Si/sub x/Ge/sub 1-x/ deposited at temperatures /spl les/ 370/spl deg/C

This work studies the possibility to treat plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon germanium (Si/sub x/Ge/sub 1-x/) thin films grown at 370/spl deg/C or lower with a pulsed excimer laser for obtaining good MEMS structural layers. The main advantage of using PECVD is that a high growth rate (/spl sim/ 35 nm/min) can be achieved at low temperatures (/spl les/ 370/spl deg/C). It is demonstrated that optimizing the pulse fluence, number and rate yields high quality films characterized by a low defect density (/spl sim/ 102 defect/cm/sup 2/), large grains (/spl sim/ 300 nm), a low mean stress (/spl sim/ 40 MPa) and a low stress gradient.