Tensile strain mapping in flat germanium membranes

Rhead, S.D. et al. (2014) Tensile strain mapping in flat germanium membranes. Applied Physics Letters, 104(17), 172107. (doi: 10.1063/1.4874836)

Abstract

Scanning X-ray micro-diffraction has been used as a non-destructive probe of the local crystalline quality of a thin suspended germanium (Ge) membrane. A series of reciprocal space maps were obtained with ∼4 μm spatial resolution, from which detailed information on the strain distribution, thickness, and crystalline tilt of the membrane was obtained. We are able to detect a systematic strain variation across the membranes, but show that this is negligible in the context of using the membranes as platforms for further growth. In addition, we show evidence that the interface and surface quality is improved by suspending the Ge.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was carried out under the RCUK Basic Technology Programme supported by research Grant Nos. EP/F040784/1, EP/J001074/1, EP/L007010/1, by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under Grant Agreement NANOFUNCTION No. 257375, by TAPHOR (MAT2012–31392), and by FP7 project MERGING (Grant No. 309150).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Halpin, Dr John
• Authors: Rhead, S.D., Halpin, J.E., Shah, V.A., Myronov, M., Patchett, D.H., Allred, P.S., Kachkanov, V., Dolbnya, I.P., Reparaz, J.S., Wilson, N.R., Sotomayor Torres, C.M., and Leadley, D.R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• ISSN: 0003-6951
• ISSN (Online): 1077-3118
• Published Online: 02 May 2014