Effects of phosphorous and antimony doping on thin Ge layers grown on Si

Yu, X. et al. (2024) Effects of phosphorous and antimony doping on thin Ge layers grown on Si. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 7969. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-57937-8) (PMID:38575676) (PMCID:PMC10995153)

Abstract

Suppression of threading dislocations (TDs) in thin germanium (Ge) layers grown on silicon (Si) substrates has been critical for realizing high-performance Si-based optoelectronic and electronic devices. An advanced growth strategy is desired to minimize the TD density within a thin Ge buffer layer in Ge-on-Si systems. In this work, we investigate the impact of P dopants in 500-nm thin Ge layers, with doping concentrations from 1 to 50 × 1018 cm−3. The introduction of P dopants has efficiently promoted TD reduction, whose potential mechanism has been explored by comparing it to the well-established Sb-doped Ge-on-Si system. P and Sb dopants reveal different defect-suppression mechanisms in Ge-on-Si samples, inspiring a novel co-doping technique by exploiting the advantages of both dopants. The surface TDD of the Ge buffer has been further reduced by the co-doping technique to the order of 107 cm−2 with a thin Ge layer (of only 500 nm), which could provide a high-quality platform for high-performance Si-based semiconductor devices.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P006973/1, EP/R029075/1, EP/T028475/1, EP/V036327/1, EP/V048732/1, and EP/X015300/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sweeney, Professor Stephen
• Authors: Yu, X., Jia, H., Yang, J., Masteghin, M. G., Beere, H., Mtunzi, M., Deng, H., Huo, S., Chen, C., Chen, S., Tang, M., Sweeney, S. J., Ritchie, D., Seeds, A., and Liu, H.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2024
• First Published: First published in Nature Research 14(1):7969
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence