Giovanni Capellini

Tensile Ge microstructures for lasing fabricated by means of a silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process

In this work we study, using experiments and theoretical modeling, the mechanical and optical properties of tensile strained Ge microstructures directly fabricated in a state-of-the art complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor fabrication line, using fully qualified materials and methods. We show that these microstructures can be used as active lasing materials in mm-long Fabry-Perot cavities, taking advantage of strain-enhanced direct band gap recombination. The results of our study can be realistically applied to the fabrication of a prototype platform for monolithic integration of near infrared laser sources for silicon photonics.

Strain analysis in SiN/Ge microstructures obtained via Si-complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatible approach

We have analyzed the strain distribution and the photoluminescence in Ge microstructures fabricated by means of a Si-CMOS compatible method. The tensile strain in the Ge microstructures is obtained by using a SiN stressor layer. Different shapes of microstructure, allowing the Ge layers to freely expand into one, two, or three dimensions, resulted in different strain distribution profiles. Maximal equivalent biaxial tensile strain values up to ∼0.8% have been measured. Room temperature photoluminescence emission has been observed and attributed to direct-band gap recombination spectrally shifted by tensile strain.

Germanium photodetector with 60 GHz bandwidth using inductive gain peaking

Germanium-on-silicon photodetectors have been heavily investigated in recent years as a key component of CMOS-compatible integrated photonics platforms. It has previously been shown that detector bandwidths could theoretically be greatly increased with the incorporation of a carefully chosen inductor and capacitor in the photodetector circuit. Here, we show the experimental results of such a circuit that doubles the detector 3dB bandwidth to 60 GHz. These results suggest that gain peaking is a generally applicable tool for increasing detector bandwidth in practical photonics systems without requiring the difficult process of lowering detector capacitance.

Strain relaxation in high Ge content SiGe layers deposited on Si

We have used Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to investigate strain relaxation mechanism of Si0.22Ge0.78 heteroepitaxial layer deposited on Si substrates in tensile, neutral, and compressive strain conditions. The three regimes have been obtained by interposing between the SiGe layer and the substrate a fully relaxed Ge layer, a partially relaxed Ge layer, or growing directly the alloy on Si. We found that the deposition of a Ge buffer layer prior to the growth of the SiGe is very promising in view of the realization of thin virtual substrates on silicon to be used for the deposition of strain-controlled high Ge content SiGe alloys. We demonstrate that this is mainly due to the strain relaxation mechanism in the Ge layer occurring via insertion of pure edge 90° misfit dislocations (MDs) and to the confinement of threading arms in to the Ge layer due to a second MD network formed at the SiGe/Ge heterointerface.

High temperature x ray diffraction measurements on Ge/Si(001) heterostructures: A study on the residual tensile strain

Ge/Si(001) heterostructures grown by means of ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition have been investigated by means of variable temperature high resolution x ray diffraction in order to investigate the origin of the residual tensile strain observed in this system. To this purpose, we have simultaneously measured the in- and out-of-plane lattice parameters of the deposited Ge films and of the underlying Si substrate, thus allowing us to directly measure the Ge strain evolution as the epilayer was annealed up to and over the deposition temperature and cooled back to room temperature. We have observed that the tensile strain, resulting from the different Si and Ge thermal expansion coefficient, is partially compensated by the residual compressive heteroepitaxial strain, due to the hardening limit of Ge. This limited the tensile strain observable in these heterostructures to ∼0.002.

Ultradense phosphorus in germanium delta-doped layers

Phosphorus (P) in germanium (Ge) δ-doped layers are fabricated in ultrahigh vacuum by adsorption of phosphine molecules onto an atomically flat clean Ge(001) surface followed by thermal incorporation of P into the lattice and epitaxial Ge overgrowth by molecular beam epitaxy. Structural and electrical characterizations show that P atoms are confined, with minimal diffusion, into an ultranarrow 2-nm-wide layer with an electrically active sheet carrier concentration of 4×1013 cm−2 at 4.2 K. These results open up the possibility of ultranarrow source/drain regions with unprecedented carrier densities for Ge n-channel field effect transistors.

A Complete Fabrication Route for Atomic-Scale, Donor-Based Devices in Single-Crystal Germanium

Despite the rapidly growing interest in Ge for ultrascaled classical transistors and innovative quantum devices, the field of Ge nanoelectronics is still in its infancy. One major hurdle has been electron confinement since fast dopant diffusion occurs when traditional Si CMOS fabrication processes are applied to Ge. We demonstrate a complete fabrication route for atomic-scale, donor-based devices in single-crystal Ge using a combination of scanning tunneling microscope lithography and high-quality crystal growth. The cornerstone of this fabrication process is an innovative lithographic procedure based on direct laser patterning of the semiconductor surface, allowing the gap between atomic-scale STM-patterned structures and the outside world to be bridged. Using this fabrication process, we show electron confinement in a 5 nm wide phosphorus-doped nanowire in single-crystal Ge. At cryogenic temperatures, Ohmic behavior is observed and a low planar resistivity of 8.3 kΩ/□ is measured.

Phosphorus atomic layer doping of germanium by the stacking of multiple δ layers.

In this paper we demonstrate the fabrication of multiple, narrow, and closely spaced δ-doped P layers in Ge. The P profiles are obtained by repeated phosphine adsorption onto atomically flat Ge(001) surfaces and subsequent thermal incorporation of P into the lattice. A dual-temperature epitaxial Ge overgrowth separates the layers, minimizing dopant redistribution and guaranteeing an atomically flat starting surface for each doping cycle. This technique allows P atomic layer doping in Ge and can be scaled up to an arbitrary number of doped layers maintaining atomic level control of the interface. Low sheet resistivities (280 Ω/ [symbol see text ) and high carrier densities (2 × 10(14) cm( - 2), corresponding to 7.4 × 10(19) cm( - 3)) are demonstrated at 4.2 K.

Photoluminescence, recombination rate, and gain spectra in optically excited n-type and tensile strained germanium layers

We theoretically investigate the optical properties of photo-excited biaxially strained intrinsic and n-type doped Ge semi-infinite layers using a multi-valley effective mass model. Spatial inhomogeneity of the excess carrier density generated near the sample surface is considered. Strain effects on the band edges, on the band dispersions, and on the orbital compositions of the near gap states involved in radiative recombinations are fully taken into account. We obtain, as a function of the distance from the sample surface, the energy resolved absorption/gain spectra resulting from the contribution of the radiative direct and phonon-assisted band-to-band transitions and from the intra-band free carrier absorption. Photoluminescence spectra are calculated from the spatially dependent spontaneous radiative recombination rate, taking into account energy-dependent self-absorption effects. For suitable combinations of doping density, strain magnitude, pump power, and emitted photon polarization, we find gain v...

Preparation of the Ge(001) surface towards fabrication of atomic-scale germanium devices

We demonstrate the preparation of a clean Ge(001) surface with minimal roughness (RMS ~0.6 Å), low defect densities (~0.2% ML) and wide mono-atomic terraces (~80-100 nm). We use an ex situ wet chemical process combined with an in situ anneal treatment followed by a homoepitaxial buffer layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy and a subsequent final thermal anneal. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we investigate the effect on the surface morphology of using different chemical reagents, concentrations as well as substrate temperature during growth. Such a high quality Ge(001) surface enables the formation of defect-free H-terminated Ge surfaces for subsequent patterning of atomic-scale devices by scanning tunneling lithography. We have achieved atomic-scale dangling bond wire structures 1.6 nm wide and 40 nm long as well as large, micron-size patterns with clear contrast of lithography in STM images.