Low-temperature fabrication of layered self-organized Ge clusters by RF-sputtering

Abstract

In this article, we present an investigation of (Ge + SiO2)/SiO2 multilayers deposited by magnetron sputtering and subsequently annealed at different temperatures. The structural properties were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, grazing incidence small angles X-ray scattering, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. We show a formation of self-assembled Ge clusters during the deposition at 250°C. The clusters are ordered in a three-dimensional lattice, and they have very small sizes (about 3 nm) and narrow size distribution. The crystallization of the clusters was achieved at annealing temperature of 700°C.

A Review on Ge Nanocrystals Embedded in SiO2 and High‐k Dielectrics

“…Sputtering can be also used for an in situ synthesis of the Ge nanocrystals. Therefore, process temperatures of 250 °C to 400 °C are usually used …”

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering: application to the study of quantum dot lattices

“…Details of the driving force for the QD ordering in this system can be found in Buljan, Pinto et al (2010). More examples of QD lattices and corresponding GISAXS maps can be found in Buljan, Grenzer, Keller et al (2010), and Pinto et al (2011).…”

“…Model 3 has also been successfully applied to the description of the ordering of Ge quantum dots deposited on rippled Si substrates (Buljan, Grenzer, Keller et al, 2010), SiGe multilayers (Pinto et al, 2011) and ordering of Ge QDs in an Al 2 O 3 matrix .…”

Effects of temperature and deposition time on the structural and optical properties of Si1−Ge nanoparticles grown by low pressure chemical vapor deposition

“…Among the different techniques to obtain SiGe nanoparticles, such as co-sputtering [19,20], ion implantation [21], oxide reduction [22] etc. Low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) [23] is one of the most widely used to produce nanoparticles with high density, low size-dispersion and good uniformity both in shape and in the size of nanoparticles.…”