B. R. Yates

Nanostructured ion beam-modified Ge films for high capacity Li ion battery anodes

Nanostructured ion beam-modified Ge electrodes fabricated directly on Ni current collector substrates were found to exhibit excellent specific capacities during electrochemical cycling in half-cell configuration with Li metal for a wide range of cycling rates. Structural characterization revealed that the nanostructured electrodes lose porosity during cycling but maintain excellent electrical contact with the metallic current collector substrate. These results suggest that nanostructured Ge electrodes have great promise for use as high performance Li ion battery anodes.

Substrate orientation dependence on the solid phase epitaxial growth rate of Ge

The solid phase epitaxial growth process has been studied at 330 °C by transmission electron microscopy for Ge wafers polished at 10°–15° increments from the [001] to [011] orientations. The velocity showed a strong dependence on substrate orientation with the [001] direction displaying a velocity 16 times greater than the [111] direction. A lattice kinetic Monte Carlo model was used to simulate solid phase epitaxial growth (SPEG) rates at different orientations, and simulations compared well with experimental results. Cross sectional transmission electron microscopy and plan view transmission electron microscopy revealed stacking fault and twin defect formation in the [111] orientation where all other orientations showed only hairpin dislocations. The twin defects formed from Ge SPEG were comparatively less dense than what has previously been reported for Si, which gave rise to higher normalized velocities and a constant [111] SPEG velocity for Ge.

Maximizing electrical activation of ion-implanted Si in In0.53Ga0.47As

A relationship between the electrical activation of Si in ion-implanted In0.53Ga0.47As and material microstructure after ion implantation is demonstrated. By altering specimen temperature during ion implantation to control material microstructure, it is advanced that increasing sub-amorphizing damage (point defects) from Si+ implantation results in enhanced electrical activation of Si in In0.53Ga0.47As by providing a greater number of possible sites for substitutional incorporation of Si into the crystal lattice upon subsequent annealing.

Role of nucleation sites on the formation of nanoporous Ge

The role of nucleation sites on the formation of nanoporous Ge was investigated. Three Ge films with different spherical or columnar pore morphologies to act as inherent nucleation sites were sputtered on (001) Ge. Samples were implanted 90° from incidence at 300 keV with fluences ranging from 3.0 × 1015 to 3.0 × 1016 Ge+/cm2. Electron microscopy investigations revealed varying thresholds for nanoporous Ge formation and exhibited a stark difference in the evolution of the Ge layers based on the microstructure of the initial film. The results suggest that the presence of inherent nucleation sites significantly alters the onset and evolution of nanoporous Ge.

Junction leakage measurements with micro four-point probes

We present a new, preparation-free method for measuring the leakage current density on ultra-shallow junctions. The junction leakage is found by making a series of four-point sheet resistance measurements on blanket wafers with variable electrode spacings. The leakage current density is calculated using a fit of the measured four-point resistances to an analytical two-sheet model. The validity of the approximation involved in the two-sheet model is verified by a comparison to finite element model calculations.

Activation and thermal stability of ultra-shallow B+-implants in Ge

The activation and thermal stability of ultra-shallow B+ implants in crystalline (c-Ge) and preamorphized Ge (PA-Ge) following rapid thermal annealing was investigated using micro Hall effect and ion beam analysis techniques. The residual implanted dose of ultra-shallow B+ implants in Ge was characterized using elastic recoil detection and was determined to correlate well with simulations with a dose loss of 23.2%, 21.4%, and 17.6% due to ion backscattering for 2, 4, and 6 keV implants in Ge, respectively. The electrical activation of ultra-shallow B+ implants at 2, 4, and 6 keV to fluences ranging from 5.0 × 1013 to 5.0 × 1015 cm−2 was studied using micro Hall effect measurements after annealing at 400–600 °C for 60 s. For both c-Ge and PA-Ge, a large fraction of the implanted dose is rendered inactive due to the formation of a presumable B-Ge cluster. The B lattice location in samples annealed at 400 °C for 60 s was characterized by channeling analysis with a 650 keV H+ beam by utilizing the 11B(p, α)2α...