Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires
Abstract
The abrupt heterointerfaces in the Si/Ge materials system presents useful possibilities for electronic device engineering because the band structure can be affected by strain induced by the lattice mismatch. In planar layers, heterointerfaces with abrupt composition changes are difficult to realize without introducing misfit dislocations. However, in catalytically grown nanowires, abrupt heterointerfaces can be fabricated by appropriate choice of the catalyst. Here we grow nanowires containing Si/Ge and Si/Ge/Si structures respectively with sub-1nm thick Ge "quantum wells" and we measure the interfacial strain fields using geometric phase analysis. Narrow Ge layers show radial strains of several percent, with a corresponding dilation in the axial direction. Si/Ge interfaces show lattice rotation and curvature of the lattice planes. We conclude that high strains can be achieved, compared to what is possible in planar layers. In addition, we study the stability of these heterostructures under heating and electron beam irradiation. The strain and composition gradients are supposed to the cause of the instability for interdiffusion.
- Authors:
-
- IBM, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States). Thomas J. Watson Research Center
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1188252
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1193241
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-108075-2015-JA; BNL-108172-2015-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 1530-6984; KC0403020
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC00112704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nano Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 15; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1530-6984
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; nanowires; in situ growth; heterostructures; functional nanomaterials; nanowire heterostructures; silicon; germanium; abrupt interfaces; strain distribution; structural instability
Citation Formats
Ross, Frances M., Stach, Eric A., Wen, Cheng -Yen, Reuter, Mark C., and Su, Dong. Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1021/nl504241g.
Ross, Frances M., Stach, Eric A., Wen, Cheng -Yen, Reuter, Mark C., & Su, Dong. Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl504241g
Ross, Frances M., Stach, Eric A., Wen, Cheng -Yen, Reuter, Mark C., and Su, Dong. Thu .
"Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl504241g. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1188252.
@article{osti_1188252,
title = {Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires},
author = {Ross, Frances M. and Stach, Eric A. and Wen, Cheng -Yen and Reuter, Mark C. and Su, Dong},
abstractNote = {The abrupt heterointerfaces in the Si/Ge materials system presents useful possibilities for electronic device engineering because the band structure can be affected by strain induced by the lattice mismatch. In planar layers, heterointerfaces with abrupt composition changes are difficult to realize without introducing misfit dislocations. However, in catalytically grown nanowires, abrupt heterointerfaces can be fabricated by appropriate choice of the catalyst. Here we grow nanowires containing Si/Ge and Si/Ge/Si structures respectively with sub-1nm thick Ge "quantum wells" and we measure the interfacial strain fields using geometric phase analysis. Narrow Ge layers show radial strains of several percent, with a corresponding dilation in the axial direction. Si/Ge interfaces show lattice rotation and curvature of the lattice planes. We conclude that high strains can be achieved, compared to what is possible in planar layers. In addition, we study the stability of these heterostructures under heating and electron beam irradiation. The strain and composition gradients are supposed to the cause of the instability for interdiffusion.},
doi = {10.1021/nl504241g},
journal = {Nano Letters},
number = 3,
volume = 15,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Critical thickness for plastic relaxation of SiGe on Si(001) revisited
journal, October 2011
- Hartmann, J. M.; Abbadie, A.; Favier, S.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 110, Issue 8
Nanoheteroepitaxy: The Application of nanostructuring and substrate compliance to the heteroepitaxy of mismatched semiconductor materials
journal, May 1999
- Zubia, D.; Hersee, S. D.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 85, Issue 9
The Au−Si (Gold-Silicon) system
journal, September 1983
- Okamoto, H.; Massalski, T. B.
- Bulletin of Alloy Phase Diagrams, Vol. 4, Issue 2
High-resolution detection of Au catalyst atoms in Si nanowires
journal, February 2008
- Allen, Jonathan E.; Hemesath, Eric R.; Perea, Daniel E.
- Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 3, Issue 3
Pressure effects on self-diffusion in silicon
journal, November 1989
- Antonelli, A.; Bernholc, J.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 40, Issue 15
One-dimensional heterostructures in semiconductor nanowhiskers
journal, February 2002
- Björk, M. T.; Ohlsson, B. J.; Sass, T.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 6, p. 1058-1060
Diameter Dependent Growth Rate and Interfacial Abruptness in Vapor–Liquid–Solid Si/Si 1− x Ge x Heterostructure Nanowires
journal, April 2008
- Clark, Trevor E.; Nimmatoori, Pramod; Lew, Kok-Keong
- Nano Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 4
Strain mapping in nanowires
journal, September 2005
- Taraci, J. L.; Hÿtch, M. J.; Clement, T.
- Nanotechnology, Vol. 16, Issue 10
Growth and characterization of GaAs and InAs nano-whiskers and InAs/GaAs heterostructures
journal, March 2002
- Ohlsson, B. J.; Björk, M. T.; Persson, A. I.
- Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, Vol. 13, Issue 2-4
Composition-Dependent Interfacial Abruptness in Au-Catalyzed Si 1– x Ge x /Si/Si 1– x Ge x Nanowire Heterostructures
journal, August 2014
- Periwal, Priyanka; Sibirev, Nickolay V.; Patriarche, Gilles
- Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 9
Si–Ge interdiffusion in strained Si/strained SiGe heterostructures and implications for enhanced mobility metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors
journal, February 2007
- Xia, Guangrui (Maggie); Hoyt, Judy L.; Canonico, Michael
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 101, Issue 4
Vapor-liquid-solid mechanism of single crystal growth
journal, March 1964
- Wagner, R. S.; Ellis, W. C.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 4, Issue 5, p. 89-90
Calculated elastic constants for stress problems associated with semiconductor devices
journal, January 1973
- Brantley, W. A.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 44, Issue 1
Growth phenomena of Si and Si/Ge nanowires on Si (111) by molecular beam epitaxy
journal, April 2006
- Zakharov, N. D.; Werner, P.; Gerth, G.
- Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 290, Issue 1
New approach to the high quality epitaxial growth of lattice‐mismatched materials
journal, July 1986
- Luryi, Serge; Suhir, Ephraim
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 49, Issue 3
Synthesis, assembly and applications of semiconductor nanomembranes
journal, September 2011
- Rogers, J. A.; Lagally, M. G.; Nuzzo, R. G.
- Nature, Vol. 477, Issue 7362, p. 45-53
Thermodynamics of diffusion under pressure and stress: Relation to point defect mechanisms
journal, May 1997
- Aziz, Michael J.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 70, Issue 21
The effect of substrate growth area on misfit and threading dislocation densities in mismatched heterostructures
journal, July 1989
- Fitzgerald, E. A.
- Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures, Vol. 7, Issue 4
Ge Self-Diffusion in Epitaxial Layers
journal, August 2001
- Zangenberg, N. R.; Lundsgaard Hansen, J.; Fage-Pedersen, J.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 12
Influence of strain on semiconductor thin film epitaxy
journal, May 1997
- Fitzgerald, E. A.; Samavedam, S. B.; Xie, Y. H.
- Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 15, Issue 3
Controlling Heterojunction Abruptness in VLS-Grown Semiconductor Nanowires via in situ Catalyst Alloying
journal, August 2011
- Perea, Daniel E.; Li, Nan; Dickerson, Robert M.
- Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 8
Formation of Compositionally Abrupt Axial Heterojunctions in Silicon-Germanium Nanowires
journal, November 2009
- Wen, C. -Y.; Reuter, M. C.; Bruley, J.
- Science, Vol. 326, Issue 5957
Strain mapping in free-standing heterostructured wurtzite InAs/InP nanowires
journal, December 2006
- Larsson, Magnus W.; Wagner, Jakob B.; Wallin, Mathias
- Nanotechnology, Vol. 18, Issue 1
Transition region width of nanowire hetero- and pn-junctions grown using vapor–liquid–solid processes
journal, January 2008
- Li, Na; Tan, Teh Y.; Gösele, U.
- Applied Physics A, Vol. 90, Issue 4
Growth mechanism of Si nanowhiskers and SiGe heterostructures in Si nanowhiskers: X-ray scattering and electron microscopy investigations
journal, October 2006
- Dujardin, R.; Poydenot, V.; Devillers, T.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 15
Strain distributions and electronic property modifications in Si/Ge axial nanowire heterostructures
journal, February 2009
- Swadener, J. G.; Picraux, S. T.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 105, Issue 4
Controlling nanowire structures through real time growth studies
journal, October 2010
- Ross, Frances M.
- Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 73, Issue 11
Atomic Scale Strain Relaxation in Axial Semiconductor III–V Nanowire Heterostructures
journal, October 2014
- de la Mata, María; Magén, César; Caroff, Philippe
- Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 11
Equilibrium limits of coherency in strained nanowire heterostructures
journal, June 2005
- Ertekin, Elif; Greaney, P. A.; Chrzan, D. C.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 97, Issue 11
Increased critical thickness for high Ge-content strained SiGe-on-Si using selective epitaxial growth
journal, December 2010
- Kim, Meekyung; Hashemi, Pouya; Hoyt, Judy L.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 26
Quantitative measurement of displacement and strain fields from HREM micrographs
journal, August 1998
- Hÿtch, M. J.; Snoeck, E.; Kilaas, R.
- Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 74, Issue 3, p. 131-146
Changes in electrical device characteristics during the in situ formation of dislocations
journal, March 1993
- Ross, F. M.; Hull, R.; Bahnck, D.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 62, Issue 12
Challenges of high Ge content silicon germanium structures
journal, March 2004
- Kasper, E.; Heim, S.
- Applied Surface Science, Vol. 224, Issue 1-4
Diffusion in strained Si(Ge)
journal, April 1994
- Cowern, N. E. B.; Zalm, P. C.; van der Sluis, P.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 72, Issue 16
Strained-Layer Epitaxy of Germanium-Silicon Alloys
journal, October 1985
- Bean, J. C.
- Science, Vol. 230, Issue 4722
Elastic strain relaxation in axial whisker heterostructures
journal, April 2007
- Hanke, M.; Eisenschmidt, C.; Werner, P.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 75, Issue 16
Block-by-Block Growth of Single-Crystalline Si/SiGe Superlattice Nanowires
journal, February 2002
- Wu, Yiying; Fan, Rong; Yang, Peidong
- Nano Letters, Vol. 2, Issue 2, p. 83-86
Growth of axial SiGe heterostructures in nanowires using pulsed laser deposition
journal, June 2011
- Eisenhawer, Björn; Sivakov, Vladimir; Berger, Andreas
- Nanotechnology, Vol. 22, Issue 30
Localization of He induced nanovoids in buried Si1−xGex thin films
journal, January 2008
- D’Angelo, D.; Mirabella, S.; Bruno, E.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 103, Issue 1
Controlling the Growth of Si/Ge Nanowires and Heterojunctions Using Silver–Gold Alloy Catalysts
journal, June 2012
- Chou, Yi-Chia; Wen, Cheng-Yen; Reuter, Mark C.
- ACS Nano, Vol. 6, Issue 7
GaN nanostructure design for optimal dislocation filtering
journal, October 2010
- Liang, Zhiwen; Colby, Robert; Wildeson, Isaac H.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 7
Works referencing / citing this record:
Nanoscale hetero-interfaces between metals and metal compounds for electrocatalytic applications
journal, January 2019
- Kwon, Taehyun; Jun, Minki; Joo, Jinwhan
- Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 10
Strain analysis of a Ge micro disk using precession electron diffraction
journal, December 2019
- Bashir, Aneeqa; Millar, Ross W.; Gallacher, Kevin
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 126, Issue 23
Ultrafast growth of horizontal GaN nanowires by HVPE through flipping the substrate
journal, January 2018
- Wu, Shaoteng; Wang, Liancheng; Liu, Zhiqiang
- Nanoscale, Vol. 10, Issue 13
Strain analysis of Ge micro disk using precession electron diffraction
text, January 2019
- Bashir, Aneeqa; Millar, Ross. W.; Gallacher, Kevin
- arXiv