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Ge with a quasi-direct band gap can be realized by strain engineering, alloying with Sn, or ultrahigh n-type doping. In this work, we use all three approaches together to fabricate direct-band-gap Ge-Sn alloys. The heavily doped n-type Ge-Sn is realized with CMOS-compatible nonequilibrium material processing. P is used to form highly doped n-type Ge-Sn layers and to modify the lattice parameter of P-doped Ge-Sn alloys. The strain engineering in heavily-P-doped Ge-Sn films is confirmed by x-ray diffraction and micro Raman spectroscopy. The change of the band gap in P-doped Ge-Sn alloy as a function of P concentration is theoretically predicted by density functional theory and experimentally verified by near-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. According to the shift of the absorption edge, it is shown that for an electron concentration greater than 1x10^20 cm-3 the band-gap renormalization is partially compensated by the Burstein-Moss effect. These results indicate that Ge-based materials have high potential for use in near-infrared optoelectronic devices, fully compatible with CMOS technology., 20 pages, 6 figures

Full integration of Ge-based alloys like GeSn with complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor technology would require the fabrication of p- and n-type doped regions for both planar and tri-dimensional device architectures which is challenging using in situ doping techniques. In this work, we report on the influence of ex situ doping on the structural, electrical and optical properties of GeSn alloys. n-type doping is realized by P implantation into GeSn alloy layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) followed by flash lamp annealing. We show that effective carrier concentration of up to 1 × 10^19 cm−3 can be achieved without affecting the Sn distribution. Sn segregation at the surface accompanied with an Sn diffusion towards the crystalline/amorphous GeSn interface is found at P fluences higher than 3 × 10^15 cm−2 and electron concentration of about 4 × 10^19 cm−3. The optical and structural properties of ion-implanted GeSn layers are comparable with the in situ doped MBE grown layers.

Independent of the type of doping, it is challenging to achieve in semiconductors an effective carrier concentration much above 10^20 /cm3. On the other hand, the successful realization of defect free n-type and p-type ultra-doped Ge layers will enable a range of devices from sensors to quantum computers. In the case of conventional doping techniques (using equilibrium processing) the maximum carrier concentration is limited by the out-diffusion of dopants, a relatively low solid solubility limit, clustering and self-compensation processes. To overcome such limitations we have utilised strong nonequilibrium process consisting of an ion beam implantation to introduce dopants into Ge and rear-side millisecond range flash lamp annealing (FLA) for recrystallization of implanted layer and dopant activation. In contrast to conventional annealing procedures, rear-side FLA leads to full recrystallization of Ge and dopant activation independent of the pre-treatment. The maximum carrier concentration is well above 10^20 /cm3 for n-type and above 10^21 /cm3 for p-type dopants. The so-fabricated n-type Ge can be used in the field of mid-infrared plasmonics which has not been accessible by group-IV semiconductors. Single crystalline n-type Ge with carrier concentrations as high as 2.2×10^20 /cm3 displays a room-temperature plasma frequency above 1850 /cm1 (?=5.4 ?m), which is the highest value ever reported for n-type Ge. In the case of Ga implanted Ge the maximum effective carrier concentration measured at 3K is 1.1×10^21 /cm3 which is two times higher than the solid solubility limit of Ga in Ge. Our p-type Ge is defect and cluster free and shows the superconductivity at Tc = 0.95 K. These results base on the successful combination of ion beam implantation followed by the novel approach consisting of millisecond range rear-FLA. This work has been partially supported by the EU 7th Framework Programme "EAgLE" (REGPOT-CT-2013-316014).

Exploiting plasmonics for mid-IR sensing purposes has become an increasing area of research. The reason is that many molecules present molecular vibrational resonances, which provide spectral fingerprints in the near- and mid-IR region [1, 2]. Of particular interest is the gas detection, diagnostic and medical care. To this day, strong plasmon resonances in the visible and near-IR spectral range have been identified in nanostructured metals such as silver, aluminum and gold [3]. In principle, heavily doped semiconducting materials like Si or Ge could be an interesting alternative to replace metals due to their compatibility with CMOS technology. Indeed, the possibility to control the plasmon resonance frequency in semiconductors via the carrier density opens new route for near- and mid-IR detectors. In this work, we report on the strong mid-IR plasmon absorption from heavily P-doped Ge thin films obtained by non-equilibrium thermal processing. Ultra-doped Ge layers were fabricated by ion implantation of P ions followed by rear-side flash lamp annealing in the millisecond range. This approach, in contrast to conventional annealing procedures, leads to full recrystallization of Ge films and high P activation irrespective of pre-treatment. In this way, single crystalline Ge thin films free of defects with carrier concentration much above 1×1020 cm-3 and carrier mobility above 260 cm2/(V·s) were obtained. The mid-IR plasmon spectral response at room temperature from those samples was characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It is proven that the position of the signal from the plasmon resonance frequency can be tuned as a function of the P concentration. Keywords: plasmonics, heavily doped n-type Ge, flash-lamp annealing. [1] A. G. Brolo, Nat. Photonics 6, 709 (2012). [2] N. Liu, M. Mesch, T. Weiss, M. Hentschel, and H. Giessen, Nano Lett. 10, 2342 (2010). [3] G. Konstantatos and E. H. Sargent, Nat. Nanotechnology 5, 391 (2010).

The integration of III-V semiconductor material within silicon technology is crucial for performance of advanced electronic devices. This paper presents the investigations of microstructural and opto-electronic properties of GaAs quantum dots (QDs) formed in silicon by means of sequential ion implantation and flash lamp annealing (FLA). Formation of crystalline GaAs QDs with well-defined crystal orientation and conductivity type was confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and mu-Raman spectroscopy. The influence of the post implantation millisecond-range annealing on the evolution of the nanoparticles size, shape, crystallographic orientation and doping type of GaAs QDs is discussed.

Semiconductors quantum dots of the size in the range of the exciton Bohr radius or smaller are very attractive objects, both for research and application, due to their special optical and electrical properties. In this paper we present investigations of microstructural, electrical and optical properties of GaAs quantum dots (QDs) formed in silicon. The GaAs QDs were obtained by means of sequential ion implantation and flash lamp annealing (FLA). It is shown that the crystallographic orientation of nanocrystals (NCs) and their size can be controlled by varying the annealing parameters. Besides the crystallographic orientation the conductivity type of the GaAs NCs can be controlled as well. The influence of the post implantation millisecond-range annealing on the evolution of the nanoparticles size, shape, crystallographic orientation and doping type of GaAs QDs is discussed.

Conventionally, the integration of III-V semiconductors with silicon is based on heteroepitaxial growth of multi-layered structures on silicon. But up to now the modification of the optoelectronic properties of silicon in the microelectronic industry is based on the ion implantation method and subsequent thermal annealing. An alternative technique to the epitaxial growth of III-V nanostructures is the high fluence ion implantation followed by milliseconds range annealing. Potentially, with this method any kind of compound semiconductors can be formed in any solid substrate. InP and GaAs with a bulk band gap of 1.34 and 1.42 eV at room temperature, respectively, are most suitable for near infrared light emitters, and InAs (0.35 eV) with an extremely high electron mobility (up to 40000 cm2/Vs) seems to be the most suitable candidate for better electronic devices performance. In this paper formation of the InAs, GaAs and InP nanocrystals in silicon are presented. The optoelectronic and microstructural properties of the compound semiconductors nanostructures were investigated by means of -Raman and temperature dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It is show that conductivity type, size and crystallographic orientation of the III-V nanostructures can be fully controlled by varying implantation and annealing parameters. Finally the heterojunction devices consisting of III-V NCs on a silicon finger realized by selective etching of silicon will be presented.

The formation of near surface SiGe layers by means of combined high dose Ge ion implantation and flash lamp annealing will be addressed. Furthermore, we show that the formation of an undesirable facetted liquid/solid in-terface, which is well known for pulse melting in the mil-lisecond time regime, is less pronounced due to the de-creasing melting temperature of Si with increasing Ge concentration at the SiGe/Si interface. A dislocation net-work, which is observed by using transmission electron microscopy, is expected to play an important role to form these thin SiGe layers. We will demonstrate the depth profiles of Ge by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and discuss the concerned mechanism.

Recently, it was shown that it is possible to obtain efficient electroluminescence (EL) from UV to IR by implanting lanthanides into the oxide layer of metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) structures [1]. The best efficiencies could be achieved on a Tb-implanted light emitter with an external quantum efficiency of 16% and a corresponding power efficiency of 0.3%. With these electrically driven Si-based light emitting devices, also called MOSLEDs, it is possible to build an integrated biosensor for the detection of organic molecules like estrogene, e.g. see Ref. [2]. For this purpose, the intensity and stability of the emitted EL are the most critical properties of the light emitters. Usually, lanthanide implanted MOSLEDs show a quenching of the EL-signal with time, which can be attributed to charge trapping in the oxide layer. In contrast to this normal wear-out phenomenon, Eu-implanted MOSLEDs can show a rise in the EL-signal during the operation time of the device [3]. Due to this anomalous wear-out phenomenon, Eu-implanted MOSLEDs offer the possibility to build a device with an extremely stable EL if the occurring processes can be better understood. For this reason, an intensive investigation was performed on Eu-implanted MOSLEDs exposed to different annealing temperatures and times. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) were used to trace the growth of Eu / Eu oxide clusters and the diffusion of Eu to the interfaces of the gate oxide layer, respectively. Both of them were induced by the annealing process. Resonant nuclear reaction analysis (rNRA) was used to measure the hydrogen depth profile in the dielectric. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, the EL decay times (τ) and the evolution of the voltage under constant current injection (Vcc) as well as the evolution of the EL spectrum with injected charge (EL-Qinj) were studied with respect to charging and trapping phenomena in the oxide layer in order to reveal details in the occurring wear-out mechanism of the EL. It will be shown, that for certain annealing conditions the EL intensity of Eu-implanted SiO2 layers can increase during constant current injection which is followed by the known EL quenching. In extreme cases this rise may amount up to two orders of magnitude. The EL behaviour will be correlated with the microstructural and electrical properties of the devices. A qualitative model for the anomalous wear-out phenomenon is proposed.

Silicon carbide with its hexagonal and cubic polytypes is one of the wide band-gap semiconductors used for high temperature applications. Obviously the growth of cubic SiC on Si would be very advantageous, because very large, high quality substrates would then be available at relatively low cost.

Systematic features of endotaxial growth of intermediate germanium layers at the bonding interface in the silicon-on-insulator structure consisting of buried SiO2 layer implanted with Ge+ ions are studied in relation to the annealing temperature. On the basis of the results for high-resolution electron microscopy and thermodynamic analysis of the Si/Ge/SiO2 system it is assumed that the endotaxial growth of the Ge layer occurs via formation of a melt due to enhanced segregation and accumulation of Ge at the Si/SiO interface. Effect of germanium at the bonding interface on the Hall mobility of holes in silicon layers with nanometer-scale thickness is studied. It is found that the structures including the top silicon layer with the thickness 3–20 nm and incorporating germanium feature the hole mobility that exceeds by a factor of 2–3 the hole mobility in corresponding Ge-free silicon-on-insulator structures.

issledovanui svoistva germanii, implantirovannovo v sloi SiO2 The properties of germanium implanted into the SiO2 layers in the vicinity of the bonding interface of silicon-on-insulator structures are studied. It is shown that, under conditions of high-temperature (1100 °C) annealing, germanium nanocrystals are not formed, while the implanted Ge atoms segregate at the Si/SiO2 bonding interface. It is established that, in this case, Ge atoms are found at sites that are coherent with the lattice of the top silicon layer. In this situation, the main type of traps is the positive-charge traps; their effect is interpreted in the context of an increase in the surface-state density due to the formation of weaker Ge–O bonds. It is found that the slope of the drain–gate characteristics of the back MIS transistors increases; this increase is attributed to an increased mobility of holes due to the contribution of an intermediate germanium layer formed at the Si/SiO2 interface.

Using bulk silicon can be ended for 32 nm technological nodes. New type of substrates needs for further scaling in CMOS microelectronics. We speculate that these new type of materials will be semiconductor heterostructure on insulator (SHI) compatible with current silicon planar CMOS technology. Joint semiconductor material stack placed on cheap amorphous dioxide is presented. First of all thin film SiGe heterostructure properties is considered. It was obtain using Ge ion implantation in dioxide with followed Ge segregation to the directly bonded interface between silicon and silicon dioxide wafers. The method is also compatible with A3B5 thin film formation.

The process of formation of excess vacancies by ion implantation is explained. Moreover, the simulation of the process, the experimental detection of excess vacancies and their application for defect engineering is described.

In this paper we discuss ion-beam-assisted nanocrystal nucleation in amorphized silicon (a-Si) layers produced by high-dose implantation of Pb+ and Bi+. (100)-oriented Si wafers were implanted at room temperature (RT) with 50 keV Pb+ and Bi+ ions at doses ranging from 5E13 to 1E18 cm−2 and a constant ion current density of 10μAcm−2. The resulting structures were studied by conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) in combination with computer simulations. The dynamics of the ion-beam-induced crystallization of new phases and precipitates evolution in the implanted layer were studied as a function of implant dose. It is established that the front of the new phase crystallization (cubic Pb and hexagonal Bi nanocrystals) starts approximately at the peaks of the implanted species profiles; the crystallography of the nucleated nanocrystal is examined as a function of the dose.

The lattice damage of silicon produced by ion implantation at extremely high current density of 0.8 A/cm2 (2.5 x 1018 cm-2 s-1) was investigated. In a focused ion beam system, implantation was carried out with 70 keV Co ions, fluences of 1.2 x 1016 cm-2 and 6.7 x 1015 cm-2 into Si (111) at room temperature and elevated temperatures between 355 °C and 400 °C. Radiation damage measurements were performed by Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectroscopy and micro-Raman analysis. The radiation damage was studied as a function of pixel dwell-time and implantation temperature. The critical temperature for amorphization increases with current density. Although the fluence of the focused ion implantation was constant, crystalline layers were obtained for short and amorphous layers for long pixel dwell-times. The critical dwell-time of crystalline/amorphous transition increases with implantation temperature. From the results a typical time for defect annealing of 10-5 s at 400 °C and an activation energy of (2.5±0.6) eV were deduced.

Spektri emissii i wosbuschdenia photoluminescencii pri komnatnoi temperature plenok Si3N4 implantirovannich plenok Ge+ i Ar+, issledovanui v savisimosti ot dosui ionov i temperaturui posledujuschego otschiga.

Computer simulation and RBS/C studies of high-dose N + and Al + co-implantation in 6H-SiC

A series of experimental and theoretical investigations has been initiated for 6H–SiC samples sequentially implanted with high doses of N+(65 keV) + N+(120 keV) + Al+(100 keV) + Al+(160 keV) ions at temperatures between 200 and 800 °C. Nitrogen and carbon distribution profiles are measured by ERD and structural defect distributions are measured by Rutherford backscattering with channeling. A comparison between the experimental data and the results of computer simulation yields a physical model to describe the relaxation processes of the implanted SiC structure, where the entire implanted volume is divided into regions of different depth, having different guiding kinetics mechanisms.

Cu is especially suitable to decorate defects in silicon. The Cu decoration technique has been applied for the detection of point defect clusters in the RP/2 region of Si+ ion implanted silicon. The results of this technique are compared with the results obtained by other analysis techniques. Nanocavities at RP/2 could be observed only in cross section transmission electron microscopy specimen prepared by cleavage technique. These nanocavities are probably the dominant gettering centres for Cu at RP/2. Small interstitial clusters may exist there as well. The conditions for the formation and for the annealing of the gettering layer at RP/2 have been determined. Impurity gettering at RP/2 can be prevented by a sequence of additional Si+ implantations to balance implantation-induced excess vacancies which are the origin of the nanocavities.