This paper investigates the structure and surface characteristics, and electrical properties of the polycrystalline silicon-germanium (poly-Si1-xGex) alloy thin films, deposited by vertical reduced pressure CVD (RPCVD) in the temperature range between 500 and 750 degrees C and a total pressure of 5 or 10 Torr. The samples exhibited a very uniform good quality films formation, with smooth surface with rms roughness as low as 7 nm for all temperature range, Ge mole fraction up to 32% (at 600 degrees C, textures of (2 2 0) preferred orientation at lower temperatures and strong (1 1 1) at 750 degrees C, for both 5 and 10 Torr deposition pressures. The P-31(+) and B-11(+) doped poly-Sil(1-x)Ge(x) films exhibited always lower electrical resistivity values in comparison to similar poly-Si films, regardless of the employed anneal temperature or implantat dose. The results indicated also that poly-Sil(1-x)Ge(x) films require much lower temperature and ion implant dose than poly-Si to achieve the same film resistivity. These characteristics indicate a high quality of obtained poly-Sil(1-x)Ge(x) films, suitable as a gate electrode material for submicron CMOS devices. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.