Au/CaF2/nSi(1 1 1) tunnel emitter phototransistor

Owing to the improved growth technology of the 1-2 nm calcium fluoride films on silicon, tunnel metal-insulator-semiconductor transistors have been fabricated. Measured output characteristics show both saturation and active mode of operation. Estimated value of current gain exceeds 1000 approaching the theoretically estimated value in this system. This result supports the candidacy of calcium fluoride for being a vital dielectric in silicon-based functional electronics.     

High quality relaxed Ge layers grown directly on a Si(0 0 1) substrate

After a long period of developing integrated circuit technology through simple scaling of silicon devices, the semiconductor industry is now embracing technology boosters such as strain for higher mobility channel material. Germanium is the logical supplement to enhance existing technologies, as its material behaviour is very close to silicon, and to create new functional devices that cannot be fabricated from silicon alone (Hartmann et al. (2004) [1]). Germanium wafers are, however, both expensive and less durable than their silicon counterparts. Hence it is highly desirable to create a relaxed high quality Ge layer on a Si substrate, with the provision that this does not unduly compromise the planarity of the system. The two temperature method, proposed by Colace et al. (1997) [2], can give smooth (RMS surface roughness below 1 nm) and low threading dislocation density (TDD <10⁸ cm⁻²) Ge layers directly on a Si(0 0 1) wafer (Halbwax et al. (2005) [3]), but these are currently of the order of 1-2 μm thick (Hartmann et al. (2009) [4]).We present an in depth study of two temperature Ge layers, grown by reduced pressure chemical vapour deposition (RP-CVD), in an effort to reduce the thickness. We report the effect of changing the thickness, of both the low temperature (LT) and the high temperature (HT) layers, emphasising the variation of TDD, surface morphology and relaxation.Within this study, the LT Ge layer is deposited directly on a Si(0 0 1) substrate at a low temperature of 400 °C. This low temperature is known to generate monolayer islands (Park et al. (2006) [5]), but is sufficiently high to maintain crystallinity whilst keeping the epitaxial surface as smooth as possible by suppressing further island growth and proceeding in a Frank-van der Merwe growth mode. This LT growth also generates a vast number of dislocations, of the order of 10⁸-10⁹ cm⁻², that enable the next HT step to relax the maximum amount of strain possible. The effect of varying the HT layer thickness is studied by depositing on a LT layer of fixed thickness (100 nm) at a higher growth temperature of 670 °C. We find that the HT layer allows Ge-on-Ge adatom transport to minimise the surface energy and smooth the layer. The final step to the technique is annealing at a high temperature that allows the dislocations generated to glide, increasing the degree of relaxation, and annihilate. We find that annealing can reduce the TDD to the order of 10⁷ cm⁻², but at a cost of a significantly roughened surface.     

An efficient wet-cleaning of SiGe virtual substrates and of thick, pure Ge layers on Si(0 0 1) after a chemical mechanical planarization step

The aim of this study is to propose an efficient wet cleaning of the surfaces of the SiGe virtual substrates just after a chemical mechanical polishing step. We have first of all studied the chemical compatibility of miscellaneous solutions, such as the standard cleaning 1 (SC1), the Standard Cleaning 2 (SC2), the CARO one etc with SiGe. A definite, logarithmic-like increase of the etch rate with the Ge content has been obtained for the SC1, the SC2 and the CARO solutions (with values 1000-10,000 those of Si evidenced for pure Ge), making them unsuitable for Ge contents above 30%. We have thus investigated the efficiency of new cleaning sequences (named “DDC-SiGe” for SiGe and “HF/O₃” for pure Ge) that call upon diluted HF and ozone solutions spiked with HCl, on SiGe and pure Ge. The overall material consumption of those cleaning sequences, which increases from 10 Å for pure Si up to 130 Å for pure Ge, is quite low. The particle removal efficiency of such cleanings is around 99% for Si_0.8Ge_0.2 and Si_0.7Ge_0.3. It drops down to 83% for Si_0.5Ge_0.5 and to 65% for pure Ge. This is most probably due to pre-existing epitaxy defects which are revealed during the wet cleaning then wrongly assimilated to particles by our surface inspection tool. The metallic contaminants present on the surface after the use of our wet cleaning sequences have a surface density lower than 10¹⁰ atoms cm⁻², this whatever the Ge content of the underlying layer.     

Stability of Frenkel pairs in Si(1 0 0) surface in the presence of germanium and oxygen atoms

A first-principles pseudo-potential study of Frenkel pair generation close to the Si(1 0 0) surface in the presence of germanium and oxygen atoms is reported. The energies and structures of the defect structures (i.e. vacancy and relaxed tetrahedral Si interstitial) are calculated using supercell with up to 88 atoms. We present results obtained using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation energy. We examine the effect of the presence of germanium and oxygen atoms on the stability of Frenkel pairs generated near the Si(1 0 0) surface by comparing a number of individual cases, starting from vacancy interstitial pairs situated at various positions. The general tendency of the created interstitials is to climb towards the surface, but they generally remain in subsurface layers, ready to migrate into the layer. This tendency is enhanced by the presence of the Ge and/or O atoms. We show that the formation energy is lower and Si interstitials can be created with energies as low as 1.5 eV.     

Convex corners undercutting and rhombus compensation in KOH with and without IPA solution on (1 1 0) silicon

The present investigation introduces convex corners undercutting and results of rhombus compensation patterns in 40% aqueous KOH solution and in KOH saturated with isopropanol (IPA) solution. All experiments are carried out on (1 1 0) silicon at 70 °C. Undercuts take place on convex corners in both solutions. Moreover, the front etch planes governing undercut vary with solutions. Rhombus compensations are used to correct the undercut. Perfect acute corner without residue is obtained, and there are only some residue structures on both sides of obtuse convex corners in KOH with IPA solution, which are better results than those in pure aqueous KOH solution.     

Effect of deposition rate and thickness on the structural and electrical properties of evaporated Ni/glass and Ni/Si(1 0 0) thin films

We have studied the effect of substrates [glass and Si(1 0 0)], of Ni thickness (t_Ni) and of the deposition rate [v₁=13 nm/min and v₂=22 nm/min] on the structural and electrical properties of evaporated Ni thin films. The Ni thickness, measured by the Rutherford backscattering (RBS) technique, ranges from 28 to 200 nm. From X-ray diffraction, it was found that all samples are polycrystalline and grow with the 〈1 1 1〉 texture. From the measure of the lattice constant, we inferred that Ni/Si samples are under a higher tensile stress than the Ni/glass ones. Moreover, in Ni/glass deposited at v₁, stress is relived as t_Ni increases while those deposited at v₂ are almost stress-free. The grain size (D) in Ni/glass with low deposition rate monotonously increases (from 54 to 140 Å) as t_Ni increases and are lower than those corresponding to Ni/Si. On the other hand, samples grown at v₂ have a constant D, for small t_Ni with D in Ni/glass larger than D in Ni/Si. Ni/glass deposited at low v₁ are characterized by a higher electrical resistivity (ρ) than those deposited at v₂. For the latter series, ρ is practically constant with t_Ni but decreases with increasing grain size, indicating that diffusion at the grain boundaries rather than surface effect is responsible for the variation of ρ in this thickness range. For the Ni/glass deposed at v₁ and the Ni/Si series, ρ has a more complex variation with thickness and deposition rate. These results will be discussed and correlated.     

X-ray microdiffraction investigation of crystallinity and strain relaxation in Ge thin lines selectively grown on Si(0 0 1) substrates

We used X-ray microdiffraction (XRMD) to investigate the crystallinity and strain relaxation of Ge thin lines with widths of 100, 200, 500 and 1000 nm selectively grown on Si(0 0 1) substrates using a patterned SiO₂ mask by chemical vapor deposition. The variations of the strain relaxation in the line and width directions were also investigated in Ge thin lines with a width of 100 nm. After growth, crystal domains with very small tilt angles were detected in Ge lines with all four line widths. The tilt angle range was larger in thinner Ge lines. After annealing at 700 °C, the formation of a single, large domain with a specific tilt angle was detected by XRMD for Ge thin lines with widths of 100 and 200 nm. These experimental results reflect the effects of SiO₂ side walls around the Ge thin lines on crystallinity and strain relaxation of Ge.     

[Cp*W(dmit)2]•: An Organometallic 15‐Electron Neutral Radical (d1) with Optical Limiting Properties in Solution and an Antiferromagnetic Ground State in the Solid State

The synthesis of the organometallic d² [Cp*W(dmit)₂]^1– complex (where Cp* is pentamethylcyclopentadienyl and dmit is 1,3‐dithiole‐2‐thione‐4,5‐dithiolate), and its oxidation to the paramagnetic d¹ [Cp*W(dmit)₂]^• species, is described and their X‐ray crystal structures given. Geometrical evolutions upon oxidation, characterized by a variable folding of the WS₂C₂ metallacycles along the S–S hinge, are rationalized by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and by comparison with the molybdenum analogs; as is also the evolution in the UV‐vis‐NIR absorption spectra. In solution, only the d¹ complexes exhibit positive optical density variations in transitory nanosecond spectroscopy after 10 ns laser pulses. A weak optical limiting effect was observed on these d¹ species, stronger in the W than in the Mo complex. In the solid state, the interacting, paramagnetic [Cp*W(dmit)₂]^• species (θ_{Curie–Weiss} = –20 K) orders antiferromagnetically below T_Néel = 4.5 K with a spin‐flop field, B_SF(W) of 8000 G. Compared with the molybdenum analog, the weaker θ_{Curie–Weiss}(W) and T_Néel(W) values, and larger B_SF(W) values reflect weaker intermolecular interactions due to a decreased spin density on the dithiolene ligands and stronger spin–orbit coupling with the W atom, as confirmed by DFT calculations on the d² and d¹ Mo and W complexes.