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Single-crystal silicon (Si) of six monolayer thickness was epitaxially grown on epi-germanium (Ge) in the (001) orientation at substrate temperatures lower than 300 °C, followed by direct depositio...

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) invented for the growth of compound semiconductors in the 70’s has been successfully extended to the advanced growth of metals, oxides, oxide/semiconductor interfaces and emergent topological materials by our endeavor in the past three and half decades. In the 80’s, Kwo et al. have invented metal MBE and oxide MBE methods in pioneering spintronics and high-temperature superconducting oxide films. In driving compound semiconductors for optoelectronics, Hong et al. have produced distributed Bragg reflectors with a continuously graded composition between each constituent without shutter operation, and greatly reduced the electrical resistance; this simple method has made easy manufacture of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. In the 90’s, combining (In)GaAs and oxide MBE chambers via ultra-high vacuum, Hong et al. were the first to unpin the Fermi level in oxide/GaAs, which led to the first demonstration of inversion-channel (In)GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Integrating MBE, atomic layer deposition (ALD), and many other functions in ultra-high vacuum, advances have been made in pushing ultimate complementary MOS (CMOS) of record-high device performances and beyond in growing emergent topological materials for spintronics. Our novel method in preserving as-grown (In)GaAs surfaces and interfaces with high-κ oxides and metals enables employing in-situ synchrotron radiation photoemission to study electronic structures in an atomic scale.

Single-crystal metastable hexagonal perovskite YAlO3 (H-YAP) films were epitaxially grown on GaAs(111)A by utilizing sub-nanolaminated (snl) and nanolaminated (nl) atomic layer deposited (ALD) Y2O3/Al2O3 multilayers in situ on freshly prepared pristine molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) GaAs. We have studied and compared the structures of H-YAP between the snl-ALD and nl-ALD samples using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The evolution of SR-XRD data under different annealing conditions suggested the lowest temperature of 900 °C for forming H-YAP. The observation of pronounced Pendellosung fringes indicated an excellent crystallinity of H-YAP and sharp H-YAP/GaAs interface despite an ∼8.4% large lattice mismatch between H-YAP and GaAs. Narrow full width at half-maximum (fwhm) ≈ 0.019° of H-YAP(0004) θ-rocking scan of the snl-ALD sample is close to that of substrate GaAs(111) ≈ 0.013° and 1 order of magnitude smaller than that of H-YAP(0004) of...

Silicon-germanium (SiGe) is replacing silicon (Si) as the channel layer for the p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (pMOS) in the aggressively scaled complementary MOS (CMOS) technology. Many research efforts involving SiGe gate stacks have resulted in the attainment of low interfacial trap densities (Dits). Si-passivated SiGe gate stacks are the most promising method to achieve both low Dit and high device reliability. However, regardless of the growth methods, most publications reported the pileup of Ge atoms on top of the grown Si even after extensive treatments. The subsequent process in forming gate stacks, including oxidation, inevitably caused the segregated Ge to form GeOx, leading to degradation of the interfacial quality of the gate stacks. We have used molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow thin single-crystal Si of 0.79nm thickness (six MLs) epitaxially on epi-Si1-xGex(001) under ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Different from its counterpart of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), MBE enables epi-Si growth on Ge at growth temperatures below 300 °C. The measurements using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), high-resolution synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), and the scanning transmission electron microscopy with high-angle annular-dark-field (STEM-HAADF) have revealed high crystallinity of the epi-Si, the Si1-xGex layers and abrupt interfaces of the high-k/epi-Si/Si1-xGex layers. Moreover, our unique capability of epi growth/analysis enabled the study of the electronic surface structures of epi-Si/epi-Ge using in-situ high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SRPES) via a portable sample transfer station under UHV. We have used SRPES to demonstrate that the as-grown Si1−xGex(001)-2×1 surfaces with Ge content ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 are all terminated with buckled Ge–Ge dimers, and the surface electronic structure is similar to that of epi-Ge(001)-2×1. The direct deposition of epi-Si on as-grown SiGe removed the top buckled Ge-Ge dimers, which diffused into the epi-Si and some segregated to the top of the Si. As a result, the topmost layer beneath the epi-Si was 1 ML of Ge, and the interfaces of high-k/epi-Si/Si1−xGex are similar to those of the high-k/epi-Si/Ge. Again, the hetero-interfaces of our gate dielectrics are different from those grown using CVD. The well-controlled interfaces have enabled the achievement of low interfacial trap densities (Dit) of (3 - 6) × 1011 eV-1cm-2 in these high-k/epi-Si/Si1-xGex samples. The minimum Dit values remained at 3 × 1011 eV-1cm-2 regardless of the Ge content, demonstrating the effective passivation of the low-temperature deposited epi-Si. The limited Ge segregation during the low-temperature growth of epi-Si may attribute to the attainment of the low Dit values. We have benchmarked the minimum Dit (Dit, min) of our work with other state-of-the-art SiGe gate stacks. The Dit,min values from the other efforts increased with increasing Ge content, which may be caused by the GeOx formation that was difficult to control in the high-Ge-content (HGC) Si1-xGex. The effective charge sheet densities for the Si1-xGex gate stacks were extracted via examination of capacitance-voltage (C-V) hysteresis with decreasing stress voltage in the accumulation region of the MOS capacitors. We have attained very high acceleration factors of 8-12, indicating high reliability of the HfO2/epi-Si/Si1-xGex pMOS gate stacks. Furthermore, we have used a scavenging method, consisting of a cyclic process of an O2 exposure followed by a UHV annealing, to eliminate the segregated and diffused Ge in epi-Si before high-k deposition. Upon O2 exposure at room temperature, both the Si and Ge surface atoms are simultaneously oxidized to give rise to four Si charge states and Ge suboxides, respectively. The subsequent in-situ annealing at 500 °C under UHV moved the oxygen atom in the Ge suboxides to bond with the nearby Si atom. The annealing also caused the diffused Ge inside the epi-Si to segregate to the surface. The processes of O2 exposure followed by annealing were repeated three times resulting in an oxidized Si/Ge surface having only the four Si oxidized states without GeOx, but with a minimal amount of segregated Ge.

Si capping layer is the most notable approach used in Ge metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS);1-2 however, the Ge segregation and diffusion occurred during the growth of Si.3-4 The formation of undesirable GeOx is detrimental to the Ge nMOS reliability.5 This work focuses on using the scavenging process to reduce the segregated Ge atoms and to completely remove GeOx in the high-k/epi-Si/epi-Ge(001). We used high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SRPES) to show the detailed development of Ge segregation and scavenging Ge using in-situ film growth, oxidation, and annealing. The Si films in 8Å thickness were grown on the epi-Ge(001) in a semiconductor molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) chamber.2 These samples were in-situ transferred to National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center in Taiwan for electronic structure studies using photoemission. Molecular oxygen was exposed to the epi-Si/epi-Ge(001) surfaces at 300°C in the photoemission chamber. The samples were then in-situ annealed at 500°C for 5 min under an ultra-high vacuum (UHV). The topmost surface of epi-Ge(001) is terminated with Ge-Ge buckled dimers.6 In the case of room-temperature grown amorphous Si (a-Si) film, the intensity of the Ge down-dimer component from the underlying epi-Ge remains as it is. The Ge up-dimer atoms were partly diffused into the a-Si film, and some of them were segregated to the top of the a-Si surface. The epi-Si grown at 260 - 280°C causes the rest of the Ge down-dimer atoms to move to the epi-Si surface to become both segregated Ge (segGe) and diffused Ge (diff-Ge). The growth of Si merely affects the topmost surface, and the Ge atoms in the second layer of the epi-Ge remain intact. A comparison of the amount of GeOx for HfO2/epi-Si/epi-Ge(001) and HfO2/epi-Ge(001) shows that the epi-Si has greatly reduced the amount of GeOx. However, the GeOx, segGe and diff-Ge components are still observed in the HfO2/epi-Si/Ge(001) samples. We have previously reported that three-time scavenging cycles have greatly reduced the amount of segGe and diff-Ge atoms in high-κ/epi-Si/n-Ge(001), thus decreasing electron traps.7 Each scavenging cycle includes room-temperature oxidation followed by thermal annealing. In this study, the oxidation of the as-grown epi-Si/epi-Ge(001) samples was performed at 300°C. It is worth noting that there is no GeOx formation on the surface after the thermal oxidation, which is different from the room-temperature oxidation of the epi-Si/epi-Ge(001) surfaces. In addition, the oxidation at 300°C affects part of the diff-Ge atoms to evaporate from the surface, which is also different from our previous work, where the diff-Ge component shows no change in intensity since the oxidation occurred at room temperature. The subsequent in-situ annealing at 500°C moved the residual Ge-boned Si (diff-Ge) inside the epi-Si to the surface to become part of the segGe atoms. In conclusion, we have used the aforementioned process to further reduce the segregated Ge, and thus the GeOx, on top of the epi-Si/epi-Ge(001). To whom the correspondence is addressed: mhong@phys.ntu.edu.tw (M. Hong), raynien@phys.nthu.edu.tw (J. Kwo), and pi@nsrrc.org.tw (T. W. Pi) Acknowledgments This work is supported by MOST 110-2112-M-002-036-, 110-2622-8-002-014-, 110-2923-M-002-001-, and 110-2112-M-213-012- of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Reference 1 H. Arimura, E. Capogreco, A. Vohra, C. Porret, R. Loo, E. Rosseel, A. Hikavyy, D. Cott, G. Boccardi, L. Witters, G. Eneman, J. Mitard, N. Collaert, and N. Horiguchi, IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meet., 2.1.1−2.1.4 (2020). 2 H. W. Wan, Y. J. Hong, Y. T. Cheng, C. K. Cheng, C. H. Hsu, C. T. Wu, T. W. Pi, J. Kwo, and M. Hong, M., ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 3, 2164−2169 (2021). 3 R. Loo, H. Arimura, D. Cott, L. Witters, G. Pourtois, A. Schulze, B. Douhard, W. Vanherle, G. Eneman, O. Richard, P. Favia, J. Mitard, D. Mocuta, R. Langer, N. Collaert, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 7, 66−72 (2018). 4 Y. T. Cheng, H. W. Wan, C. K. Cheng, C. P. Cheng, J. Kwo, M. Hong, T. W. Pi, Appl. Phys. Express 13, 085504 (2020). 5 J. Franco, B. Kaczer, P. J. Roussel, J. Mitard, S. Sioncke, L. Witters, H. Mertens, T. Grasser, G. Groeseneken, IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meet., 15.2.1−15.2.4 (2013). 6 Y. T. Cheng, Y. H. Lin, W. S. Chen, K. Y. Lin, H. W. Wan, C. P. Cheng, H. H. Cheng, J. Kwo, M. Hong, T. W. Pi, Appl. Phys. Express 10, 075701 (2017). 7 Y. T. Cheng, H. W. Wan, T. Y. Chu, T. W. Pi, J. Kwo, M. Hong, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 3, 4484-4489 (2021).

The role of an atomic-layer thick periodic Y&ndash, O array in inducing the epitaxial growth of single-crystal hexagonal YAlO3 perovskite (H-YAP) films was studied using high-angle annular dark-field and annular bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with a spherical aberration-corrected probe and in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction. We observed the Y&ndash, O array at the interface of amorphous atomic layer deposition (ALD) sub-nano-laminated (snl) Al2O3/Y2O3 multilayers and GaAs(111)A, with the first film deposition being three cycles of ALD-Y2O3. This thin array was a seed layer for growing the H-YAP from the ALD snl multilayers with 900 &deg, C rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The annealed film only contained H-YAP with an excellent crystallinity and an atomically sharp interface with the substrate. The initial Y&ndash, O array became the bottom layer of H-YAP, bonding with Ga, the top layer of GaAs. Using a similar ALD snl multilayer, but with the first film deposition of three ALD-Al2O3 cycles, there was no observation of a periodic atomic array at the interface. RTA of the sample to 900 &deg, C resulted in a non-uniform film, mixing amorphous regions and island-like H-YAP domains. The results indicate that the epitaxial H-YAP was induced from the atomic-layer thick periodic Y&ndash, O array, rather than from GaAs(111)A.

We report our study about the growth and characterization of $\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{i}}_{2}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{e}}_{3}$ thin films on top of ${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$(111), $\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{m}}_{3}\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$(111), $\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$(111), and $\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$(100) single-crystal substrates. Using molecular-beam epitaxy, we were able to prepare the topological insulator/ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures with no or minimal chemical reaction at the interface. We observed the anomalous Hall effect on these heterostructures and also a suppression of the weak antilocalization in the magnetoresistance, indicating a topological surface-state gap opening induced by the magnetic proximity effect. However, we did not observe any obvious x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) on the Te ${M}_{45}$ edges. The results suggest that the ferromagnetism induced by the magnetic proximity effect via van der Waals bonding in $\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{i}}_{2}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{e}}_{3}$ is too weak to be detected by XMCD, but still can be observed by electrical transport measurements. This is in fact not inconsistent with reported density-functional calculations on the size of the gap opening.

Single-crystal Si films six-monolayers in thickness were epitaxially grown on Ge(001) surface to minimize the formation of undesirable GeO x with subsequent deposition of HfO2 and Y2O3. The interfacial properties and reliability of the in-situ deposited high-κ oxides on epi-Si/p-Ge(001) were compared. We have achieved interface trap density (D it) values of (1–3) × 1011 eV−1cm−2 in the Y2O3/epi-Si/p-Ge(001), which are two times lower than those of the HfO2/epi-Si/p-Ge(001). The capacitance-equivalent-thicknesses under different annealing conditions were extracted to analyze the interdiffusion in the gate stacks under various thermal treatments. Y2O3/epi-Si/Ge exhibited higher thermal stability than HfO2/epi-Si/Ge. In both high-κ’s gate stacks, the effective charge sheet densities (ΔN eff) are lower than the targeted value of 3 × 1010 cm−2. Compared to the Y2O3 gate stacks, attainment of a high acceleration factor of 11 in the HfO2 gate stacks suggested an improved defect-carrier decoupling in the latter stacks.

Germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) structures with a surface orientation of (111) have been successfully fabricated by using low thermal budget epitaxial-lift-off (ELO) technology via direct bonding and selective etching. The material characteristics and transport properties of the Ge(111)OI structure have been systematically investigated through secondary-ion mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, and Hall measurement. The transferred Ge (111) layer remained almost intact from the as-grown epitaxial layers, indicating the benefits of ELO technology. The low thermal budget ELO technology demonstrated in this work is promising to integrate Ge channels with different surface orientations on Si (100) substrates for future monolithic 3D applications.

We report the structural and optical properties of ten-period ZnO/MgxZn1–xO multiple quantum wells (MQWs) prepared on the most widely used semiconductor material, Si. The introduction of a nanometer thick high-k Y2O3 transition layer between Si (111) substrate and a ZnO buffer layer significantly improves the structural perfection of the MQWs grown on top of it. The high structural quality of the ZnO/MgxZn1–xO MQWs is evidenced by the appearance of pronounced high order satellite peaks in X-ray crystal truncation rods; high resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images also confirmed the regularly arranged well and barrier layers. When the well width is less than ∼2.7 nm, the quantum-confined Stark effect in MQWs can be negligible. Not only the increasing exciton-binding energy but also reducing exciton–phonon coupling determined in temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra indicate quantum-size effect. Our results demonstrate that ZnO/MgxZn1–xO MQWs integrated on Si have great ...

Y2O3 was in situ deposited on a freshly grown molecular beam epitaxy GaAs(001)-4 × 6 surface by atomic layer deposition (ALD). In situ synchrotron radiation photoemission was used to study the mechanism of the tris(ethylcyclopentadienyl)yttrium [Y(CpEt)3] and H2O process. The exponential attenuation of Ga 3d photoelectrons confirmed the laminar growth of ALD-Y2O3. In the embryo stage of the first ALD half-cycle with only Y(CpEt)3, the precursors reside on the faulted As atoms and undergo a charge transfer to the bonded As atoms. The subsequent ALD half-cycle of H2O molecules removes the bonded As atoms, and the oxygen atoms bond with the underneath Ga atoms. The product of a line of Ga–O–Y bonds stabilizes the Y2O3 films on the GaAs substrate. The resulting coordinatively unsaturated Y–O pairs of Y2O3 open the next ALD series. The absence of Ga2O3, As2O3, and As2O5 states may play an important role in the attainment of low interfacial trap densities (Dit) of

This study used high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission to investigate the epi SiGe(0 0 1)-2 × 1 surface that was exposed to atomic oxygen and hydrogen at room temperature, followed by in situ annealing at 500 °C. The SiGe(0 0 1)-2 × 1 surface that was grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was terminated with buckled Ge–Ge dimers, where the Ge dimers exhibited great similarity compared to those on epi Ge(0 0 1)-2 × 1. The exposure of atomic oxygen started from as low as 0.1 L up to 500 L, although the interfacial reaction practically stopped at 10 L of exposure. Atomic oxygen bonded only with the up-dimer atoms, while the atomic hydrogen passivated both dimerized atoms. Upon annealing, the GeOx oxides and GeHx hydrides disappeared completely, and the Ge region became similar to that of the clean surface. However, over half of the Ge–Ge dimers were removed from the surface after annealing in both interfaces. Heat caused the oxygen atoms in GeOx to move over to the Si region, thereby giving rise to 1+ to 4+ charge states of SiOx, which was similar to the case of the oxidation of c-Si(0 0 1)-2 × 1. The catalytic effect of Ge decreased the elevated temperature to, at most, 500 °C.

High quality Y 2 O 3 on GaSb was achieved using both molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) with interfacial characteristics studied by in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) electrical measurements. Ga-oxide and stoichiometric Sb-oxides were obtained in the MBE-Y 2 O 3 /GaSb and non-stoichiometric Sb 2 Ox (x 2 O 3 /GaSb according to the XPS spectra. From the capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements, MBE-Y 2 O 3 provides lower interfacial trap density (D it ) grown at elevated temperature of 200°C, while ALD-grown Y 2 O 3 shows smaller hysteresis and higher dielectric constant.

In-situ molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) Y 2 O 3 films 1–2 nm thick were epitaxially grown on GaAs(001)−4×6 reconstructed surfaces. Despite a large lattice mismatch, the hetero-structure exhibits outstanding thermal stability to 900 °C with excellent capacitance-voltage ( C-V ) characteristics. Low interfacial trap densities ( D it 's ) of (3–5)×10 11 eV −1 cm −2 were obtained using the conductance method ( G-V ) without discernible peaks at the mid-gap. The frequency dispersion of the measured C-V s of the Y 2 O 3 /GaAs(001) is ~4.6% for p -GaAs and ~12.4% for n -GaAs. In contrast, the atomic layer deposited Al 2 O 3 on GaAs(001) shows large D it with a peak at the mid-gap, large C-V frequency dispersion, and low thermal stability at temperatures higher than 600 °C. Synchrotron radiation photoemission results show intactness of the interfacial structure in the MBE-Y 2 O 3 /GaAs, while removal of the surface As atoms is found in the ALD-Al 2 O 3 /GaAs system.

Molecular-beam-epitaxy (MBE) and atomic-layer-deposition (ALD) high-κ HfO 2 dielectrics have been in - situ deposited on MBE-grown pristine p - and n -In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As(0 0 1). The HfO 2 /In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) from both methods all exhibit excellent capacitance-voltage ( C - V ) characteristics with true inversion and low leakage current densities. Moreover, interfacial trap densities ( D it ’s) with no discernible peaks at the mid-gap were measured using the temperature-dependent conductance method. Both HfO 2 /InGaAs hetero-structures have exhibited outstanding thermal stabilities to 800 °C.

Y2O3 and Al2O3 were in-situ atomic layer deposited (ALD) on pristine GaAs(001)-46 reconstructed surfaces without surface pretreatments. We have studied the border and interfacial traps in both hetero-structures using the measured electrical responses. On the basis of frequency dispersion analysis of the capacitance-voltage (CV) characteristics, we conclude that Y2O3 has effectively passivated GaAs surface with a much lower interfacial trap density (Dit) than Al2O3 as the gate dielectric. The quasi-static CV and conductance measurements are in agreement with the above conclusion. We have demonstrated an excellent ALD-Y2O3/GaAs interface with low Dit's of (0.52)1012eV1cm2 through the whole GaAs band gap without a mid-gap peak feature. Display Omitted

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) HfO2 films ~ 1.5 nm thick were directly deposited on freshly grown GaAs(001)-4 × 6 reconstructed surfaces. The hetero-structure exhibits outstanding thermal stability up to 900 °C with excellent capacitance-voltage (C-V) and leakage current density-electric field (J-E) characteristics. We have extracted low interfacial trap densities (Dit's) with minimum value of 1.3 × 1011 eV− 1 cm− 2 from the measured quasi-static C-V (QSCV) characteristics. The smallest frequency dispersion of the C-Vs for the MBE-HfO2/p-GaAs(001) is ~ 5.2% at frequency range of 500 to 1 MHz and no trap-induced humps were observed in the C-Vs, as measured at 100 °C and 150 °C. Also, the leakage current density remains low of 10− 8(A/cm2) at E

The Interface of Ag with p -type α2 GaAs(001)-2 × 4 has been studied to further understand the formation mechanism of the Schottky barrier height (SBH). In the initial phase of Ag deposition, high-resolution core-level data show that Ag adatoms effectively passivate the surface As-As dimers without breaking them apart. The Ag(+)-As(−) dipoles are thus generated with a maximal potential energy of 0.26 eV; a SBH of 0.38 eV was measured. Greater Ag coverage causes elemental segregation of As/Ga atoms, reversing the direction of the net dipole. The band bending effect near the interface shows a downward shift of 0.08 eV, and the final SBH is similar to the value as measured at the initial Ag deposition. Both parameters are secured at 0.25 A of Ag thickness prior to the observation of metallic behavior of Ag. Inadequacy of the metal-induced gap-state model for explaining SBH is evident.

In this paper, we investigate the embryonic stage of oxidation of an epi Ge(001)-2 &times, 1 by atomic oxygen and molecular O2 via synchrotron radiation photoemission. The topmost buckled surface with the up- and down-dimer atoms, and the first subsurface layer behaves distinctly from the bulk by exhibiting surface core-level shifts in the Ge 3d core-level spectrum. The O2 molecules become dissociated upon reaching the epi Ge(001)-2 &times, 1 surface. One of the O atoms removes the up-dimer atom and the other bonds with the underneath Ge atom in the subsurface layer. Atomic oxygen preferentially adsorbed on the epi Ge(001)-2 &times, 1 in between the up-dimer atoms and the underneath subsurface atoms, without affecting the down-dimer atoms. The electronic environment of the O-affiliated Ge up-dimer atoms becomes similar to that of the down-dimer atoms. They both exhibit an enrichment in charge, where the subsurface of the Ge layer is maintained in a charge-deficient state. The dipole moment that was originally generated in the buckled reconstruction no longer exists, thereby resulting in a decrease in the ionization potential. The down-dimer Ge atoms and the back-bonded subsurface atoms remain inert to atomic O and molecular O2, which might account for the low reliability in the Ge-related metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices.

The capacitance-voltage (C-V) hystereses under positive and negative stress fields were studied on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) Si-capped Ge metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors to investigate pre-existing and generated shallow and deep oxide traps. Post metallization forming gas annealing (FGA) has reduced the effective oxide trap density ( $\Delta$ N eff ) of one order of magnitude, achieving values lower than the one required of sufficient reliability (target $\Delta$ N eff ~3×1010 cm−2) at an effective oxide fields (E ox ) of ~10MV/cm (i.e., larger than at operating condition). This result demonstrates the effectiveness of FGA in reducing the hole traps in the gate stack. Furthermore, the measured C-V hystereses and the stress-induced-leakage-current (SILC) under long-time stress remained extremely small, showing the superior reliability of the MBE Si-capped Ge gate stacks on Ge.

Oxide defects in HfO 2 and Y 2 O 3 on GaAs(001) are characterized by analyzing capacitance-voltage $(C-V)$ hysteresis of metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) under positive and negative stress fields. The $C-Vs$ of Y 2 O 3 /GaAs have smaller hysteresis and flat-band voltage shift in both accumulation and depletion regimes. This indicates less shallow and deep traps for Y 2 O 3 , making this high-k oxide more suitable than HfO 2 for GaAs passivation in terms of reliability.

By in situ depositing Y2O3 on a pristine p-In0.53Ga0.47As surface under ultra-high vacuum, we have attained a low interfacial trap density (Dit) of (2–5) × 1011 eV−1cm−2 from the mid-gap to the valence band edge. The Dit values were extracted from the conductance contours measured from 300 K to 77 K. The small frequency dispersions of 1.2%/dec (300 K) and 0.28%/dec (77 K) in the accumulation region of the capacitance–voltage (CV) characteristics and very small frequency-dependent flatband voltage shifts of 0.021 V/dec (300 K) and 0.011 V/dec (77 K) indicate low border trap densities and low Dit's; these experimental results have not been achieved in previous reports of oxide/p-In0.53Ga0.47As. The Y2O3/p-In0.53Ga0.47As heterostructure also exhibited a high thermal stability of 800 °C, as observed by the low Dit values, small CV frequency dispersions, and an abrupt interface without inter-diffusion in cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy images. Our work has demonstrated a long-sought remedy for the effective passivation of p-type In0.53Ga0.47As, paving the way to high-performance electronic and optoelectronic In0.53Ga0.47As devices.

The physical investigation of surfaces and their properties crucially depends on their quality. Such investigations are commonly performed in an ultra-high vacuum environment. Thereby, the transfer of samples among different setups and under ambient conditions is desirable. The usage of a capping layer for the protection of surfaces against contaminations during long-time storage and transfer, and the subsequent temperature-controlled decapping is an established approach. However, a residual-free removal of the capping layer may present a challenge. Here, we systematically investigate the decapping process of a tellurium protected topological insulator Bi2Te3. We give evidence for the material segregation from the contaminated capping layer surface to the substrates. Therefore, a simple, temperature controlled decapping is not sufficient. We demonstrate that near perfect surfaces can be reliably obtained even after long-time storage through a combination of an initial argon ion sputtering process and a following heating for decapping. This approach is suitable for dedicated analysis systems as well as for industrial applications, large throughput of samples of arbitrary shapes, and is easily implemented in existing setups.

We performed direct microwave power injection into Pt/YIG, a heavy metal/ferrimagnetic insulator bilayer structure. The induced heating effect plays an important role in the interpretation of the ferromagnetic resonance signal. According to our frequency dependent measurements, we found the heat-induced inhomogeneous broadening in addition to the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). From the angular dependent measurement, the thermal signals both in non-resonant and resonant states were observed, consistent with the angular dependence of longitudinal spin Seebeck signal. The heating effect from the injected rf power not only gives rise to the increase of inhomogeneous broadening factor ΔH 0, but also contributes to the increase of damping constant, Δα.

Transport signatures of exchange gap opening because of magnetic proximity effect (MPE) are reported for bilayer structures of Bi2Se3 thin films on yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and thulium iron garnet (TmIG) of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). Pronounced negative magnetoresistance (MR) was detected, and attributed to an emergent weak localization (WL) effect superimposing on a weak antilocalization (WAL). Thickness-dependent study shows that the WL originates from the time-reversal-symmetry breaking of topological surface states by interfacial exchange coupling. The weight of WL declined when the interfacial magnetization was aligned toward the in-plane direction, which is understood as the effect of tuning the exchange gap size by varying the perpendicular magnetization component. Importantly, magnetotransport study revealed anomalous Hall effect (AHE) of square loops and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) characteristic, typifying a ferromagnetic conductor in Bi2Se3/TmIG, and the presence of an interfacial ferromagnetism driven by MPE. Coexistence of MPE-induced ferromagnetism and the finite exchange gap provides an opportunity of realizing zero magnetic-field dissipation-less transport in topological insulator/ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures., 31 pages, 9 figures

The in-situ deposited high κ gate dielectrics, Ga 2 O 3 (Gd 2 O 3 )[GGO], Y 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 , on freshly molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As (InGaAs) have perfected the interfacial electronic (chemical) characteristics, thus achieving low interfacial trap densities (D it ) and high-temperature thermal stability. These enable fabrication of self-aligned inversion- channel InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect- transistors (MOSFETs) using a CMOS compatible process, giving very high drain currents (I d ) of 1.05-1.8 mA/μm and transconductances (G m ) of 0.714-0.98 mS/μm in 1μm gate length (L g ) devices; Synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SRPES) reveals no AsO x residue at the in-situ atomic layer deposited (ALD)-Al 2 O 3 /InGaAs interface, while some AsO x remains using the ex-situ method. The in-situ 1μm L g GGO/Ge pMOSFETs have given I d of 0.496 mA/μm, G m of 0.178 mS/ μm, and effective hole mobility of 389 cm2/V s. On the formation of Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Ag/GaAs, SRPES core-level data show that Ag adatoms effectively passivate the surface As-As dimers in the initial Ag deposition. A SBH of 0.38 eV is secured at Ag 0.25 A thick prior to the formation of an Ag metal. The final SBH is similar to the measured value at the initial Ag deposition.

Thulium iron garnet (TmIG) films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) were grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) (111) substrates by off-axis sputtering. High-resolution synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction studies and spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (Cs-corrected STEM) images showed the excellent crystallinity of the films and their sharp interface with GGG. Damping constant of TmIG thin film was determined to be 0.0133 by frequency-dependent ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and the coercive field (Hc) were obtained systematically as a function of the longitudinal distance (L) between the sputtering target and the substrate. A 170% enhancement of PMA field (H⊥) was achieved by tuning the film composition to increase the tensile strain. Moreover, current-induced magnetization switching on a Pt/TmIG structure was demonstrated with an ultra-low critical current density (jc) of 2.5 × 106 A/cm2, an order of magnitude smaller than the previously reported value. We were able to tune Ms, Hc and H⊥ to obtain an ultra-low jc of switching the magnetization, showing the great potential of sputtered TmIG films for spintronics.

Harnessing the spin–momentum locking of topological surface states in conjunction with magnetic materials is the first step to realize novel topological insulator-based devices. Here, we report strong interfacial coupling in Bi2Se3/yttrium iron garnet (YIG) bilayers manifested as large interfacial in-plane magnetic anisotropy (IMA) and enhancement of damping probed by ferromagnetic resonance. The interfacial IMA and damping enhancement reaches a maximum when the Bi2Se3 film approaches its two-dimensional limit, indicating that topological surface states play an important role in the magnetization dynamics of YIG. Temperature-dependent ferromagnetic resonance of Bi2Se3/YIG reveals signatures of the magnetic proximity effect of TC as high as 180 K, an emerging low-temperature perpendicular magnetic anisotropy competing the high-temperature IMA, and an increasing exchange effective field of YIG steadily increasing toward low temperature. Our study sheds light on the effects of topological insulators on magnetization dynamics, essential for the development of topological insulator-based spintronic devices. Understanding the effects of topological insulators on magnetization dynamics of adjacent magnetic materials is essential for novel spintronic devices. Here, Fanchiang et al. report thickness dependence of interfacial in-plane magnetic anisotropy and damping enhancement in Bi2Se3/yttrium iron garnet (YIG) bilayers, indicating an important role of topological surface states in the magnetization dynamics of YIG.

Display Omitted First demonstration of single-crystal atomic layer deposited oxide on GaAs(001).Attainment of very thin single crystal ALD-Y2O3 1nm thick on GaAs(001).Thin ALD-Y2O3 film with excellent crystallinity having FWHM of ~0.033?.Lowest frequency dispersion ever achieved in the ALD-oxides on n-type GaAs(001).Thermodynamic stability at high temperatures of 900?C. In situ atomic layer deposited (ALD) Y2O3 films 1-5nm thick on GaAs(001)-4i?6 reconstructed substrates were found to be single crystalline. The epitaxial growth between the oxide films and GaAs was first observed using reflective high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and later studied using high-resolution synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. The Y2O3 films are of cubic phase and have (110) as the film normal; the orientation relationship between the Y2O3 films and the GaAs substrates was determined to be Y2O3(110)001] 1 ? 1 0 ]//GaAs(001)110] 1 1 ? 0 ] . The frequency dispersion of the measured capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves of the single crystal ALD-Y2O3/GaAs(001)-4i?6 is ~7% for p-GaAs and ~14% for n-GaAs (1MHz to 100Hz), lowest ever achieved in the ALD-oxides on GaAs(001).

Display Omitted Demonstration of using Al2O3/Y2O3 as common gate stacks on InGaAs, GaSb and Ge.Record high device performance of Al2O3/Y2O3 on GaSb for p-MOSFETs.Drain current of 1.5mA/µm and transconductance of 770µS/µm on InGaAs for 1µm gate length n-MOSFETs.CMOS compatible process. Y2O3, as a common high ? gate dielectric, has been directly deposited on (In)GaAs, GaSb, and Ge using electron beam evaporation in ultra-high vacuum. These semiconductors have distinctly different chemical bonding and surface electronic characteristics. No interfacial passivation layer was employed. High-quality Y2O3/semiconductor interfaces have been achieved, resulting in low interfacial trap densities and high-temperature thermal stability, essential for the CMOS compatible process. Self-aligned inversion channel n-InGaAs, p-GaSb, and p-Ge MOSFETs have been fabricated with excellent device performances.

Y2O3 was in situ deposited on a freshly grown molecular beam epitaxy GaAs(001)-4 × 6 surface by atomic layer deposition (ALD). In situ synchrotron radiation photoemission was used to study the mechanism of the tris(ethylcyclopentadienyl)yttrium [Y(CpEt)3] and H2O process. The exponential attenuation of Ga 3d photoelectrons confirmed the laminar growth of ALD-Y2O3. In the embryo stage of the first ALD half-cycle with only Y(CpEt)3, the precursors reside on the faulted As atoms and undergo a charge transfer to the bonded As atoms. The subsequent ALD half-cycle of H2O molecules removes the bonded As atoms, and the oxygen atoms bond with the underneath Ga atoms. The product of a line of Ga–O–Y bonds stabilizes the Y2O3 films on the GaAs substrate. The resulting coordinatively unsaturated Y–O pairs of Y2O3 open the next ALD series. The absence of Ga2O3, As2O3, and As2O5 states may play an important role in the attainment of low interfacial trap densities (Dit) of

Conventional silicon transistor scaling is fast approaching its limits. An extension of the logic device roadmap to further improve future performance increases of integrated circuits is required to propel the electronics industry. Attention is turning to III–V compound semiconductors that are well positioned to replace silicon as the base material in logic switching devices. Their outstanding electron transport properties and the possibility to tune heterostructures provide tremendous opportunities to engineer novel nanometer-scale logic transistors. The scaling constraints require an evolution from planar III–V metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) toward transistor channels with a three-dimensional structure, such as nanowire FETs, to achieve future performance needs for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) nodes beyond 10 nm. Further device innovations are required to increase energy efficiency. This could be addressed by tunnel FETs (TFETs), which rely on interband tunneling and thus require advanced III–V heterostructures for optimized performance. This article describes the challenges and recent progress toward the development of III–V MOSFETs and heterostructure TFETs—from planar to nanowire devices—integrated on a silicon platform to make these technologies suitable for future CMOS applications.

The integration of quantum materials like topological insulators (TIs) with magnetic insulators (MIs) has important technological implications for spintronics and quantum computing. Here we report excellent crystallinity of c-axis oriented epitaxial TI films Bi2Se3 grown on MI films, a rare earth iron garnet (ReIG), such as thulium iron garnet (Tm3Fe5O12, TmIG) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with a Se-buffered low-temperature (SBLT) growth technique. We demonstrated a streaky reflection high-energy electron diffraction pattern starting from the very first quintuple layer of Bi2Se3, indicating the high-quality interface between TmIG and Bi2Se3, a prerequisite for studying interfacial exchange coupling effects. The strong interfacial exchange interaction was manifested by observations of anomalous Hall effect in the Bi2Se3/TmIG bilayer and a shift of ferromagnetic resonance field of TmIG induced by Bi2Se3. We have reproducibly grown high-quality Bi2Se3/ReIG and interfaces using this new TI growth method, which may be applied to grow other types of van der Waals (vdW) hetero-structures., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures