Roberto Bergamaschini

Scaling Hetero-Epitaxy from Layers to Three-Dimensional Crystals

Laying It on Thick The growth of one layered material onto a second lies at the heart of many electronic devices. However, if there is a lattice mismatch between the two materials, strains develop in the overgrowth material leading to bowing and cracking. Falub et al. (p. 1330; see the cover) patterned Si substrates into a series of pillars onto which they grew a germanium layer. The germanium initially coated the top of each silicon pillar but then widened as the layer thickened, leading to thick, crack-free germanium films. A space-filling array of self-limited three-dimensional epitaxial crystals averts wafer bowing, layer cracking, and dislocation propagation. Quantum structures made from epitaxial semiconductor layers have revolutionized our understanding of low-dimensional systems and are used for ultrafast transistors, semiconductor lasers, and detectors. Strain induced by different lattice parameters and thermal properties offers additional degrees of freedom for tailoring materials, but often at the expense of dislocation generation, wafer bowing, and cracks. We eliminated these drawbacks by fast, low-temperature epitaxial growth of Ge and SiGe crystals onto micrometer-scale tall pillars etched into Si(001) substrates. Faceted crystals were shown to be strain- and defect-free by x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and defect etching. They formed space-filling arrays up to tens of micrometers in height by a mechanism of self-limited lateral growth. The mechanism is explained by reduced surface diffusion and flux shielding by nearest-neighbor crystals.

Engineered Coalescence by Annealing 3D Ge Microstructures into High-Quality Suspended Layers on Si.

The move from dimensional to functional scaling in microelectronics has led to renewed interest toward integration of Ge on Si. In this work, simulation-driven experiments leading to high-quality suspended Ge films on Si pillars are reported. Starting from an array of micrometric Ge crystals, the film is obtained by exploiting their temperature-driven coalescence across nanometric gaps. The merging process is simulated by means of a suitable surface-diffusion model within a phase-field approach. The successful comparison between experimental and simulated data demonstrates that the morphological evolution is driven purely by the lowering of surface-curvature gradients. This allows for fine control over the final morphology to be attained. At fixed annealing time and temperature, perfectly merged films are obtained from Ge crystals grown at low temperature (450 °C), whereas some void regions still persist for crystals grown at higher temperature (500 °C) due to their different initial morphology. The latter condition, however, looks very promising for possible applications. Indeed, scanning tunneling electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses show that, at least during the first stages of merging, the developing film is free from threading dislocations. The present findings, thus, introduce a promising path to integrate Ge layers on Si with a low dislocation density.

Temperature-dependent evolution of the wetting layer thickness during Ge deposition on Si(001)

The evolution of the wetting layer (WL) thickness during Ge deposition on Si(001) is analyzed with the help of a rate-equation approach. The combined role of thickness, island volume and shape-dependent chemical potentials is considered. Several experimental observations, such as WL thinning following the pyramid-to-dome transformation, are captured by the model, as directly demonstrated by a close comparison with photoluminescence measurements (PL) on samples grown at three different temperatures. The limitations of the model in describing late stages of growth are critically addressed.

Continuum modelling of semiconductor heteroepitaxy: an applied perspective

Semiconductor heteroepitaxy involves a wealth of qualitatively different, competing phenomena. Examples include three-dimensional island formation, injection of dislocations, mixing between film and substrate atoms. Their relative importance depends on the specific growth conditions, giving rise to a very complex scenario. The need for an optimal control over heteroepitaxial films and/or nanostructures is widespread: semiconductor epitaxy by molecular beam epitaxy or chemical vapour deposition is nowadays exploited also in industrial environments. Simulation models can be precious in limiting the parameter space to be sampled while aiming at films/nanostructures with the desired properties. In order to be appealing (and useful) to an applied audience, such models must yield predictions directly comparable with experimental data. This implies matching typical time scales and sizes, while offering a satisfactory description of the main physical driving forces. It is the aim of the present review to show that continuum models of semiconductor heteroepitaxy evolved significantly, providing a promising tool (even a working tool, in some cases) to comply with the above requirements. Several examples, spanning from the nanometre to the micron scale, are illustrated. Current limitations and future research directions are also discussed. Graphical Abstract

Optimal Growth Conditions for Selective Ge Islands Positioning on Pit-Patterned Si(001)

We investigate ordered nucleation of Ge islands on pit-patterned Si(001) using an original hybrid Kinetic Monte Carlo model. The method allows us to explore long time-scale evolution while using large simulation cells. We analyze the possibility to achieve selective nucleation and island homogeneity as a function of the various parameters (flux, temperature, pit period) able to influence the growth process. The presence of an optimal condition where the atomic diffusivity is sufficient to guarantee nucleation only within pits, but not so large to induce significant Ostwald ripening, is clearly demonstrated.

The interplay of morphological and compositional evolution in crystal growth: a phase-field model

We present a closed and consistent model for growth phenomena of binary systems. Starting with the free energy of mixtures, a mean-field description of the material is derived that accounts for morphological as well as compositional evolution, which are strongly coupled to each other. The derived phase-field model describes surface effects, e.g. surface diffusion and anisotropic surface tension, as well as codiffusion in the evolving bulk phase. The model leads to a set of nonlinear partial differential equations of high order, which are solved simultaneously using adaptive finite elements and used to analyse the interplay of growth, surface and compositional dynamics. The external driving force is a mass flux from a fluid or vapour phase which allows to control the growth process.

Kinetic growth mode of epitaxial GaAs on Si(001) micro-pillars

Three-dimensional, epitaxial GaAs crystals are fabricated on micro-pillars patterned into Si(001) substrates by exploiting kinetically controlled growth conditions in Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The evolution of crystal morphology during growth is assessed by considering samples with increasing GaAs deposit thickness. Experimental results are interpreted by a kinetic growth model, which takes into account the fundamental aspects of the growth and mutual deposition flux shielding between neighboring crystals. Different substrate pattern geometries with dissimilar lateral sizes and periodicities of the Si micro-pillars are considered and self-similar crystal structures are recognized. It is demonstrated that the top faceting of the GaAs crystals is tunable, which can pave the way to locally engineer compound semiconductor quantum structures on Si(001) substrates.

Epitaxial Ge-crystal arrays for X-ray detection

Monolithic integration of an X-ray absorber layer on a Si CMOS chip might be a potentially attractive way to improve detector performance at acceptable costs. In practice this requires, however, the epitaxial growth of highly mismatched layers on a Si-substrate, both in terms of lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients. The generation of extended crystal defects, wafer bowing and layer cracking have so far made it impossible to put the simple concept into practice. Here we present a way in which the difficulties of fabricating very thick, defect-free epitaxial layers may be overcome. It consists of an array of densely packed, three-dimensional Ge-crystals on a patterned Si(001) substrate. The finite gap between neighboring micron-sized crystals prevents layer cracking and substrate bowing, while extended defects are driven to the crystal sidewalls. We show that the Ge-crystals are indeed defect-free, despite the lattice misfit of 4.2%. The electrical characteristics of individual Ge/Si heterojunction diodes are obtained from in-situ measurements inside a scanning electron microscope. The fabrication of monolithically integrated detectors is shown to be compatible with Si-CMOS processing.

Optically reconfigurable polarized emission in Germanium

Light polarization can conveniently encode information. Yet, the ability to tailor polarized optical fields is notably demanding but crucial to develop practical methods for data encryption and to gather fundamental insights into light-matter interactions. Here we demonstrate the dynamic manipulation of the chirality of light at telecom wavelengths. This unique possibility is enrooted in the multivalley nature of the conduction band of a conventional semiconductor, namely Ge. In particular, we demonstrate that optical pumping suffices to govern the kinetics of spin-polarized carriers and eventually the chirality of the radiative recombination. We found that the polarized component of the emission can be remarkably swept through orthogonal eigenstates without magnetic field control or phase shifter coupling. Our results provide insights into spin-dependent phenomena and offer guiding information for the future selection and design of spin-enhanced photonic functionalities of group IV semiconductors.

Critical strain for Sn incorporation into spontaneously graded Ge/GeSn core/shell nanowires

We address the role of non-uniform composition, as measured by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, in the elastic properties of core/shell nanowires for the Ge/GeSn system. In particular, by finite element method simulations and transmission electron diffraction measurements, we estimate the residual misfit strain when a radial gradient in Sn and a Ge segregation at the nanowire facet edges are present. An elastic stiffening of the structure with respect to the uniform one is concluded, particularly for the axial strain component. More importantly, refined predictions linking the strain and the Sn percentage at the nanowire facets enable us to quantitatively determine the maximum compressive strain value allowing for additional Sn incorporation into a GeSn alloy. The progressive incorporation with increasing shell thickness, under constant growth conditions, is specifically induced by the nanowire configuration, where a larger elastic relaxation of the misfit strain takes place.