Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires

Ross, Frances M.; Stach, Eric A.; Wen, Cheng -Yen; Reuter, Mark C.; Su, Dong

doi:10.1021/nl504241g

Title: Strain and stability of ultrathin Ge layers in Si/Ge/Si axial heterojunction nanowires

Journal Article · Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nano Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/nl504241g· OSTI ID:1188252

Ross, Frances M. ^[1]; Stach, Eric A. ^[2]; Wen, Cheng -Yen ^[3]; Reuter, Mark C. ^[1]; Su, Dong ^[2]

IBM, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States). Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)

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.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC00112704

OSTI ID:: 1188252

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1193241

Report Number(s):: BNL-108075-2015-JA; BNL-108172-2015-JA; KC0403020

Journal Information:: Nano Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 3; ISSN 1530-6984

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 22 works

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