Defect reduction by liquid phase epitaxy of germanium on single-crystalline-like germanium templates on flexible, low-cost metal substrates

Li, Yongkuan; Guo, Haichao; Yao, Yao; Dutta, Pavel; Rathi, Monika; Zheng, Nan; Gao, Ying; Sun, Sicong; Ryou, Jae-Hyun; Ahrenkiel, Phil; Selvamanickam, Venkat

doi:10.1039/c8ce01258j

Defect reduction by liquid phase epitaxy of germanium on single-crystalline-like germanium templates on flexible, low-cost metal substrates

Journal Article · Wed Oct 03 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · CrystEngComm

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ce01258j· OSTI ID:1613375

^[1]; ^[2]; Yao, Yao ^[2]; Dutta, Pavel ^[2]; Rathi, Monika ^[2]; Zheng, Nan ^[3]; Gao, Ying ^[2]; Sun, Sicong ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Selvamanickam, Venkat ^[2]

Univ. of Houston, TX (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

Single-crystalline-like germanium (Ge) templates were demonstrated on low-cost, flexible metal substrates and have been used to fabricate III–V materials and devices for photovoltaics and flexible electronics applications. However, these Ge templates, fabricated by magnetron sputtering or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, contain a high density of defects. In order to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices made using the Ge templates, a homo-epitaxial Ge layer has been additionally grown by a liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method. The LPE Ge layer is composed of significantly larger grains (~26 μm) compared to that of the Ge template (~200 nm). This large size of the LPE Ge grains effectively reduces the volume fraction of grain boundaries. The LPE Ge shows an out-of-plane texture Δω of ~0.63° and an in-plane texture ΔΦ of ~1.26°, which signify improvements of ~39.3% and ~76.6% compared to that of the vapor-deposited Ge template, respectively. Further, the LPE Ge is strain free, compared to the strained Ge template hetero-epitaxially grown on cerium oxide. Defects caused by low-angle grain boundaries, impurities and strain relaxation in the Ge template are found to be suppressed in the LPE Ge. The threading dislocation density is roughly estimated to be ~5 × 10⁶ cm^-2 in the LPE Ge compared to ~1 × 10¹⁰ cm^-2 in the Ge template.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: University of Houston, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006711

OSTI ID:: 1613375

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1476117

Journal Information:: CrystEngComm, Journal Name: CrystEngComm Journal Issue: 41 Vol. 20; ISSN CRECF4; ISSN 1466-8033

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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