Interplay Between Strain and Thickness on the Effective Carrier Lifetime of Buffer-Mediated Epitaxial Germanium Probed by the Photoconductance Decay Technique

Bhattacharya, Shuvodip; Johnston, Steven W.; Datta, Suman; Hudait, Mantu K.

doi:10.1021/acsaelm.3c00256

Title: Interplay Between Strain and Thickness on the Effective Carrier Lifetime of Buffer-Mediated Epitaxial Germanium Probed by the Photoconductance Decay Technique

Journal Article · 19 May 2023 · ACS Applied Electronic Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.3c00256· OSTI ID:1992022

Bhattacharya, Shuvodip;

; Datta, Suman; Hudait, Mantu K.

We report contactless effective minority carrier lifetime of epitaxially grown unstrained and in-plane <110> biaxially tensile-strained (001) germanium (..epsilon..-Ge) epilayers measured using microwave-reflectance photoconductance decay measurements. Strained Ge epilayers were grown using InxGa1-xAs linearly graded buffers on (001) GaAs substrates. Using homogeneous excitation of unstrained Ge epilayers, thickness-dependent separation of minority carrier lifetime components under low injection conditions yielded a bulk lifetime of 114 +/- 2 ns and low surface recombination velocity of 21.3 +/- 0.04 cm/s. More notably, an effective minority carrier lifetime of >100 ns obtained from sub-50 nm 1.6% tensile-strained Ge epilayers showed no degradation relative to the unstrained counterpart. Detailed material characterization using X-ray diffractometry revealed successful strain transfer of 0.61 and 0.89% to the Ge epilayers via InxGa1-xAs metamorphic buffers and confirms pseudomorphic growth. Lattice coherence observed at the e-Ge epilayer and InxGa1-xAs buffer heterointerfaces via transmission electron microscopy substantiates the prime material quality achieved. The relatively high carrier lifetimes achieved are an indicator of excellent material quality and provide a path forward to realize low-threshold Ge laser sources.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

DOE Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1992022

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-85206; MainId:85979; UUID:feef46f3-ca5c-46d6-b90a-a3b4e5fec45d; MainAdminID:69981

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Electronic Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 6

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Interplay Between Strain and Thickness on the Effective Carrier Lifetime of Buffer-Mediated Epitaxial Germanium Probed by the Photoconductance Decay Technique

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