Structural evolution and characterization of heteroepitaxial GaSb thin films on Si(111) substrates

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2715838· OSTI ID:20982799

Nguyen, Thang; Varhue, Walter; Cross, Michael; Pino, Robinson; Adams, Edward; Lavoie, Mark; Lee, Jaichan ^[1]

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1. School of Engineering, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405 (United States)

This paper describes the structural evolution and characterization of heteroepitaxial GaSb thin films on Si(111) substrates. The growth process used a combination of atomic sources which included the rf sputtering of Sb and the thermal effusion of Ga. The formation of crystalline GaSb thin films required that initially a monolayer thick Sb buffer layer be applied directly to a clean H-passivated Si(111) substrate surface. The resulting film was characterized by high resolution x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM images were taken from the material after several periods of growth to determine the evolution of crystal structure with thickness. Atomic force microscopy images of the film surface showed that the heteroepitaxial layers were formed via the Stranski-Krastanov growth mechanism. This result is consistent with the heteroepitaxial growth of systems representing large differences in lattice constant. The hole mobility and carrier concentration in the deposited material were determined by the Hall measurement, performed at room temperature and on a 140 nm thick sample, to be 66 cm{sup 2}/V sec and 3x10{sup 19} cm{sup -3}, respectively. The carrier mobility was relatively low as expected for measurements taken at room temperature.

• OSTI ID: 20982799
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 101, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2715838; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
CARRIER DENSITY
CARRIER MOBILITY
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
EPITAXY
GALLIUM ANTIMONIDES
HALL EFFECT
HOLE MOBILITY
ION MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
LATTICE PARAMETERS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
RUTHERFORD BACKSCATTERING SPECTROSCOPY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPUTTERING
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION