Strain engineering of epitaxially transferred, ultrathin layers of III-V semiconductor on insulator

Strain state of ultrathin InAs-on-insulator layers obtained from an epitaxial transfer process is studied. The as-grown InAs epilayer (10-20 nm thick) on the GaSb/AlGaSb source wafer has the expected similar to 0.62% tensile strain. The strain is found to fully release during the epitaxial transfer of the InAs layer onto a Si/SiO(2) substrate. In order to engineer the strain of the transferred InAs layers, a ZrO(x) cap was used during the transfer process to effectively preserve the strain. The work presents an important advance toward the control of materials properties of III-V on insulator layers. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3537963]