Highly (111)-oriented Ge thin films on insulators formed by Al-induced crystallization

Abstract

Impact of atomic layer deposition temperature on HfO2/InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor interface properties J. Appl. Phys. 112, 084103 (2012) Method for investigating threshold field of charge injection at electrode/dielectric interfaces by space charge observation Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 172902 (2012) An accurate characterization of interface-state by deep-level transient spectroscopy for Ge metal-insulatorsemiconductor capacitors with SiO2/GeO2 bilayer passivation J. Appl. Phys. 112, 083707 (2012) Electron transport properties of carbon nanotube-graphene contacts Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 153501 (2012) Response to "Comment on 'Broadening of metal-oxide-semiconductor admittance characteristics: Measurement, sources, and its effects on interface state density analyses'" [J. Appl. Phys. 112, 076101 (2012) (111)-oriented Ge thin films on insulators are essential for advanced electronics and photovoltaic applications. We investigate Al-induced crystallization of amorphous-Ge films (50-nm thickness) on insulators focusing on the annealing temperature and the diffusion controlling process between Ge and Al. The (111)-orientation fraction of the grown Ge layer reaches as high as 99% by combining the low-temperature annealing (325 C) and the native-oxidized Al (AlO x ) diffusioncontrol layer. Moreover, the transmission electron microscopy reveals the absence of defects on the Ge surface. This (111)-oriented Ge on insulators promises to be the high-quality epitaxial template for various functional materials to achieve next-generation devices. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx

Growth and applications of GeSn-related group-IV semiconductor materials

“…Research groups at Kyushu University and Tsukuba University have individually studied the eutectic-metal induced crystallization of Si [55], Ge [56,57], and Si 1−x Ge x [58,59], aiming for orientation control. From a technological point of views, Park et al [60] and Toko et al [61] individually demonstrated the sub-200°C formation of highly (111)-oriented poly-Ge films on flexible plastic substrates.…”

Potential variation around grain boundaries in BaSi2 films grown on multicrystalline silicon evaluated using Kelvin probe force microscopy

“…It is of significant interest to determine the potential variations in BaSi 2 formed on multicrystalline Si (mc-Si) substrates, especially those around the GBs of the mc-Si substrate. This would provide information on the potential application of a BaSi 2 single-junction solar cell on an inexpensive SiO 2 substrate covered with (111)-oriented polycrystalline Si or Ge layers by Al-induced crystallization (AIC), [34][35][36][37][38] and multijunction or heterojunction solar cells composed of wider band gap (Ba,Sr)(Si,C) 2 silicides [39][40][41][42][43] and mc-Si. This article reports the growth of BaSi 2 layers on a mc-Si substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and discusses the crystal orientation determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analyses, and the surface potential distribution around BaSi 2 GBs determined from KFM.…”

Direct synthesis of multilayer graphene on an insulator by Ni-induced layer exchange growth of amorphous carbon

“…In the field of group-IV semiconductors including Si, [27][28][29][30][31] Ge, [32][33][34][35] and SiGe, 36,37 metal-induced layer exchange (MILE) allows large-grained (>30 lm) highly oriented thin films to be formed on insulators. In MILE, an amorphous semiconductor layer crystallizes by "layer exchange" between the amorphous layer and a catalyst metal layer.…”

“…This means that the Ni catalyst has lowered the crystallization temperature of a-C by more than 400 C. The difference of the crystallization temperatures of a-C between with and without Ni is large compared with the case of the MILE for Si and Ge. 31,32 Considering the mechanism of MILE, the upper thickness limit of the MLG is determined by the relationship between the diffusion rate of C atoms into Ni and spontaneous nucleation rate in a-C. Because 0.5-lm-thick Si layers form in the Si-Al system, 26 the C-Ni system will enable the synthesis of MLG layers much thicker than 1 lm. The synthesis temperature for layer exchange is determined by the solubility limit of amorphous materials in metals.…”