Nupur Bhargava

Infrared electroluminescence from GeSn heterojunction diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Infrared electroluminescence was observed from GeSn/Ge p-n heterojunction diodes with 8% Sn, grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The GeSn layers were boron doped, compressively strained, and pseudomorphic on Ge substrates. Spectral measurements indicated an emission peak at 0.57 eV, about 50 meV wide, increasing in intensity with applied pulsed current, and with reducing device temperatures. The total integrated emitted power from a single edge facet was 54 μW at an applied peak current of 100 mA at 100 K. These results suggest that GeSn-based materials maybe useful for practical light emitting diodes operating in the infrared wavelength range near 2 μm.

Lattice constant and substitutional composition of GeSn alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Single crystal epitaxial Ge1−xSnx alloys with atomic fractions of tin up to x = 0.145 were grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on Ge (001) substrates. The Ge1−xSnx alloys formed high quality, coherent, strained layers at growth temperatures below 250 °C, as shown by high resolution X-ray diffraction. The amount of Sn that was on lattice sites, as determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry channeling, was found to be above 90% substitutional in all alloys. The degree of strain and the dependence of the effective unstrained bulk lattice constant of Ge1−xSnx alloys versus the composition of Sn have been determined.

Photoconductivity of germanium tin alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Photocurrent spectroscopy was used to measure the infrared absorption of germanium-tin alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy. To study dependence on Sn composition, the photocurrent was measured at 100 K on alloys of Ge1−xSnx with atomic percentages of Sn up to 9.8%. The optical absorption coefficient was calculated from the photocurrent, and it was found that the absorption edge and extracted bandgap energy decreased with increasing Sn content. For all Ge1−xSnx samples, a fundamental bandgap below that of bulk Ge was observed, and a bandgap energy as low as 0.624 eV was found for a Sn percentage of 9.8% at 100 K.

Current–Voltage Characteristics of GeSn/Ge Heterojunction Diodes Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Heterojunction diodes of p-GeSn/n-Ge were fabricated by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy on Ge substrates to investigate their electrical properties. Measurements of the current-voltage characteristics and their temperature and composition dependence were performed to extract the diode parameters of reverse saturation current, ideality factor, series resistance, and shunt resistance. The diodes showed good rectifying behavior with low turn-ON voltages in forward bias. The reverse saturation current increased with increasing Sn content and increasing temperature, and the magnitude of the breakdown voltage decreased with increasing temperature. These results suggest that Ge-Sn diodes may be useful for Ge-based circuits and optoelectronics.

Infrared photoresponse of GeSn/n-Ge heterojunctions grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Heterojunction devices of Ge(1-x)Sn(x) / n-Ge were grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and the mid-infrared (IR) photocurrent response was measured. With increasing Sn composition from 4% to 12%, the photocurrent spectra became red-shifted, suggesting that the bandgap of Ge(1-x)Sn(x) alloys was lowered compared to pure Ge. At a temperature of 100 K, the wavelengths of peak photocurrent were shifted from 1.42 µm for pure Ge (0% Sn) to 2.0 µm for 12% Sn. The bias dependence of the device response showed that the optimum reverse bias was > 0.5 volts for saturated photocurrent. The responsivity of the Ge(1-x)Sn(x) devices was estimated to be 0.17 A/W for 4% Sn. These results suggest that Ge(1-x)Sn(x) photodetectors may have practical applications in the near/mid IR wavelength regime.

Magnetic tunneling junction based magnetic field sensors: Role of shape anisotropy versus free layer thickness

Al2O3- and MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) sensors were designed and fabricated using microfabrication techniques. This study revealed that in the case of Al2O3-based sensors, the shape anisotropy in the free NiFe electrode resulted in a linear and hysteresis-free tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) curve. These sensors exhibited TMR values between 27% and 30% and sensitivity up to 0.4%/Oe over a magnetic field range of − 40 to 40 Oe. In the case of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB MTJ sensors, shape anisotropy alone was not sufficient to achieve a linear and hysteresis-free MR response. A superparamagnetic free layer was used to achieve the desired sensor response. MgO-based sensors had about 90% TMR and 1.1%/Oe sensitivity over the same field range as Al2O3-based MTJs.

Structural Properties of Boron-Doped Germanium-Tin Alloys Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Boron-doped Ge1−xSnx alloys with atomic fractions of tin up to x = 0.08 were grown on n-Ge(001) substrates using solid-source molecular beam epitaxy, in order to study their structural properties. The total boron concentration in the alloys was ~ 1018 cm−3 as measured by secondary-ion mass spectroscopy, which also indicated low amounts of impurities such as carbon and oxygen. More than 90% of the Sn atoms occupied substitutional lattice sites in the alloy as determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. High-resolution x-ray diffraction showed that the boron-doped Ge1−xSnx alloys were single crystals that were completely strained with low defect densities and coherent interfaces for thickness up to 90 nm, and for Sn composition of 8%. The boron-doped Ge1−xSnx/n-Ge formed p–n junctions with conventional rectifying characteristics, indicating that the boron produced electrically active acceptor states.

The properties of germanium-tin alloys for infrared device applications

Germanium-tin alloys are attracting renewed interest for applications including the strain control of CMOS active channels in integrated circuits, and mid-infrared optical devices for medical imaging, chemical spectroscopy, and military counter-measures. With sufficient Sn content above about 10 %, there is the particularly interesting possibility of an energy bandgap that is direct in reciprocal space, which may lead to efficient light emitters and detectors.