Novel room temperature photoluminescence of Ge/Si islands in multilayer structure grown on silicon-on-insulator substrate

Novel room temperature photoluminescence (PL) of the Ge/Si islands in multilayer structure grown on silicon-on-insulator substrates is investigated. The cavity formed by the mirrors at the surface and the buried SiO2 interface has a strong effect on the PL emission. The peak position is consistent with the theoretical calculation and independent of the exciting power, which is the evidence of cavity effect on the room temperature photoluminescence. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research progress of self-organized Ge quantum dots on Si substrate

A review is presented on recent research development of self-organized Ge/Si quantum dots (QDs). Emphasis is put on the morphological evolution of the Ge quantum dots grown on Si (001) substrate, the structure analysis of multilayer Ge QDs, the optical and electronic properties of these nanostructures, and the approaches to fabricating ordered Ge quantum dots.

Investigation of Mn-implanted n-type Ge

Mn+ irons were implanted to n-type Ge(1 1 1) single crystal at room temperature with an energy of 100 keV and a dose of 3 x 10(16) cm(-2). Subsequently annealing was performed at 400degreesC for 1 h under flowing nitrogen gas. X-ray diffraction measurements show that as-implanted sample is amorphous and the structure of crystal is restored after annealing. Polycrystalline germanium is formed in annealed sample. There are no new phases found except germanium. The samples surface morphologies indicate that annealed sample has island-like feature while there is no such kind of characteristic in as-implanted sample. The elemental composition of annealed sample was analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy. It shows that manganese ions are deeply implanted into germanium substrate and the highest manganese atomic concentration is 8% at the depth of 120 nm. The magnetic properties of samples were investigated by an alternating gradient magnetometer. The annealed sample shows ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Raman scattering of folded acoustic phonons in self-assembled Si/Ge dot superlattices

Self-assembled Si/Ge dot multilayers with small, uncorrelated dots fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy in the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode are studied by Raman scattering of folded longitudinal acoustic (FLA) modes. The FLA Raman spectra are analyzed and modeled with respect to mode frequencies and the spectral envelope of mode intensities. The deduced average superlattice properties are consistent with results from atomic force microscopy. The simple Rytov model used for Si/Ge layer structures reproduces very well the frequencies of the FLA modes up to 150 cm(-1). The nonlinearity of phonon dispersion curves in bulk Si for large momenta, however, becomes important for modeling the higher frequencies of observed FLA modes up to 22nd order. The effective dot layer width and an activation energy for thermal intermixing of 2.1+/-0.2 eV are determined from the spectral envelopes of FLA mode intensities of as-grown and annealed Si/Ge dot multilayers. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Growth of Ge quantum dot mediated by boron on Ge wetting layer

We, report on the influence of boron on the formation of Ge quantum dots. The investigated structure consists of a Ge wetting layer, on which a sub-monolayer boron is deposited and subsequently a Ge top layer. For sufficiently thin Ge top layers, the strain field induced by boron on Ge wetting layer destabilizes the Ge top layer and causes the formation of small Ge quantum dots. However, for thicker Ge top layers, boron on the Ge wetting layer diffuses into Ge layers, compensates partly the strain and delays the evolution of Ge quantum dots. By this method, small Ge quantum dots with high density as well as size uniformity can be formed by optimizing the growth condition. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic properties of Mn-implanted n-type Ge

Mn+ ions were implanted into n-type Ge(1 1 1) single crystal at room temperature at an energy of 100 keV with a dose of 3 x 10(16) cm(-2). Subsequent annealing was performed on the samples at 400 degreesC and 600 degreesC in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere. The magnetic properties of the samples have been investigated by alternating gradient magnetometer at room temperature. The compositional properties of the annealed samples were studied by Auger electron spectroscopy and the structural properties were analyzed by X-ray diffraction measurements. Magnetization measurements reveal room-temperature ferromagnetism for the annealed samples. The magnetic analysis supported by compositional and structural properties indicates that forming the diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) MnxGe1-x after annealing may account for the ferromagnetic behavior in the annealed samples. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of Ge-Si atomic interdiffusion in Ge nano-dots multilayer structure by double crystal X-ray diffraction

The fluctuations of the strained layer in a superlattice or quantum well can broaden the width of satellite peaks in double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) pattern. It is found that the width of the 0(th) peak is directly proportional to the fluctuation of the strained layer if the other related facts are ignored. By this method, the Ge-Si atomic interdiffusion in Ge nano-dots and wetting layers has been investigated by DCXRD. It is found that thermal annealing can activate Ge-Si atomic interdiffusion and the interdiffusion in the nano-dots area is much stronger than that in the wetting layer area. Therefore the fluctuation of the Ge layer decreases and the distribution of Ge atoms becomes homogeneous in the horizontal Ge (GeSi actually) layer, which make the width of the 0(th) peak narrow after annealing.

An n-type SiGe/Ge QC structure utilizing the deep Ge quantum well for electron at the Gamma point

In this paper, an n-type Si1-xGex/Ge (x >= 0.85) quantum cascade (QC) structure utilizing a deep Ge quantum well for electrons at the Gamma point is proposed. Based on linear interpolation, a conduction band offset at the Gamma point in a Si1-xGex/Ge ( x >= 0.85) heterostructure is presented, which is suitable for designing a QC laser. This approach has the advantages of a large conduction band offset at the Gamma point, a low lattice mismatch between the Si1-xGex/Ge ( x >= 0.85) active layers and the Si1-yGey ( y > x) virtual substrate, a small electron effective mass in the Gamma band, simple conduction energy band structures and a simple phonon scattering mechanism in the Ge quantum well. The theory predicts that if high-energy electrons are continuously injected into the Gamma band, a quasi-equilibrium distribution of electrons between the Gamma and L bands can be reached and held, i.e., electrons with a certain density will be kept in the Gamma band. This result is supported by the intervalley scattering experiments. In n-type Si1-xGex/Ge ( x >= 0.85) QC structures, population inversion between the laser's upper and lower levels is demonstrated.

Comparison between double crystals X-ray diffraction micro-Raman measurement on composition determination of high Ge content Si1_xGex layer epitaxied on Si substrate

It is important to acquire the composition of Si1-xGex layer, especially that with high Ge content, epitaxied on Si substrate. Two nondestructive examination methods, double crystals X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and micro-Raman measurement, were introduced comparatively to determine x value in Si1-xGex: layer, which show that while the two methods are consistent with each other when x is low, the results obtained from double crystals X-ray diffraction are not credible due to the large strain relaxation occurring in Si1-xGex layers when Ge content is higher than about 20%. Micro-Raman measurement is more appropriate for determining high Ge content than DCXRD.

1.55-mu m resonant cavity enhanced photodiode based on MBE grown Ge quantum dots

Self-assembly Ge quantum dots (QD) on Si and Si/Ge mutli-quantum-wells (MQW) are grown by MBE. The island size and island density was investigated by atomics force microscopy. Ten-layer and twenty-layer MQW were selected for photodiode device fabrication. In photoluminescence (PL), a broad peak around 1.55-mu m wavelength was observed with higher peak intensity for the 10-layer MQW which had less defects than the 20-layer sample. Resonant cavity enhanced (RCE) photodiodes were fabricated by bonding on a SOI wafer. Selected responsivity at 1.55 mu m was successfully demonstrated. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of Ge nano-dot heterojunction phototransistors for improved light detection at 1.55 mu m

Heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) with several Ge/Si nano-dot layers as the absorption region are fabricated to obtain improved light detectivity at 1.55 mu m. The HPT detectors are of n-p-n type with ten layers of Ge(8ML)/Si(45nm) incorporated in the base-collector junction and are grown by an ultrahigh-vacuum chemical-vapor deposition system. The detectors are operated with normal incidence. Because of the good quality of the grown material and fabrication process, the dark current is only 0.71pA/mu m(2) under 5 V bias and the break-down voltage is over 20 V. Compared to the positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) reference detector with the same absorption layer, the responsivity is improved over 17 times for normal incidence at 1.55 mu m.

Growth and properties of magnetron cosputtering grown Mn(x)Ge(1-x)on Si(001)

We have grown MnxGe1-x films (x=0, 0.06, 0.1) on Si (001) substrates by magnetron cosputtering, and have explored the resulting structural, morphological, electrical and magnetic properties. X-ray diffraction results show there is no secondary phase except Ge in the Mn0.06Ge0.94 film while new phase appears in the Mn0.1Ge0.9 film. Nanocrystals are formed in the Mn0.06Ge0.94 film, determined by field-emission scanning electron microscopy. Hall measurement indicates that the Mn0.06Ge0.94 film is p-type semiconductor and hole carrier concentration is 6.07 X 10(19) cm(-3) while the MnxGe1-x films with x=0 has n-type carriers. The field dependence of magnetization was measured using alternating gradient magnetometer, and it has been indicated that the Mn0.06Ge0.94 film is ferromagnetic at room temperature. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Type-II SiGe/Si MQWS (multi-quantum wells) and self-organized Ge/Si islands grown by UHV/CVD system

Type-II SiGe/Si MQWs (Multi-Quantum Wells) and Self-Organized Ge/Si Islands were successfully grown by a homemade ultra-high vacuum/chemical vapor deposition (UHV/CVD) system. Growth characteristics and PL (photoluminescence) spectra at different temperature were measured. It demonstrated that some accumulation of carriers in the islands results in the increase of the integrated PL intensity of island-related at a certain temperature range.

Increasing the photoluminescence intensity of Ge islands by chemical etching

Self-assembled Ge islands were grown on Si(100) substrate by Si2H6-Ge molecular beam epitaxy. After being subjected to chemical etching, it is found that the photoluminescence from the etched Ge islands became more intense and shifted to the higher-energy side compared to that of the as-deposited Ge islands. This behaviour was explained by the effect of chemical etching on the morphology of the Ge islands. Our results demonstrate that chemical etching can be a way to change the luminescence property of the as-deposited islands.

Changing the size and shape of Ge island by chemical etching

Self-assembled Ge islands were grown on Si (1 0 0) substrate by Si2H6-Ge molecular beam epitaxy. Subjected to a chemical etching, it is found that the size and shape (i.e. ratio of height to base width) of Ge islands change with etching time. In addition, the photoluminescence from the etched Ge islands shifted to the higher energy side compared to that of the as-deposited Ge islands. Our results demonstrated that chemical etching can be a way to change the size and shape of the as-deposited islands as well as their luminescence property. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.