Electronic Raman scattering as an ultra-sensitive probe of strain effects in semiconductors

Fluegel., Brian; Mialitsin, Aleksej V.; Beaton, Daniel A.; Reno, John L.; Mascarenhas, Angelo

doi:10.1038/ncomms8136

Electronic Raman scattering as an ultra-sensitive probe of strain effects in semiconductors

Journal Article · Thu May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8136· OSTI ID:1184485

Fluegel., Brian ^[1]; Mialitsin, Aleksej V. ^[2]; Beaton, Daniel A. ^[1]; Reno, John L. ^[3]; Mascarenhas, Angelo ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Semiconductor strain engineering has become a critical feature of high-performance electronics because of the significant device performance enhancements that it enables. These improvements, which emerge from strain-induced modifications to the electronic band structure, necessitate new ultra-sensitive tools to probe the strain in semiconductors. Here, we demonstrate that minute amounts of strain in thin semiconductor epilayers can be measured using electronic Raman scattering. We also applied this strain measurement technique to two different semiconductor alloy systems using coherently strained epitaxial thin films specifically designed to produce lattice-mismatch strains as small as 10^-4. Thus, comparing our strain sensitivity and signal strength in Al_xGa _1-x As with those obtained using the industry-standard technique of phonon Raman scattering, we found that there was a sensitivity improvement of 200-fold and a signal enhancement of 4 × 10³, thus obviating key constraints in semiconductor strain metrology.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1184485

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1220707

Report Number(s):: SAND--2014-18603J; 540405

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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