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Si/Ge/Si(001) Magnetron Sputter Heteroepitaxy: the Initial Stages of “Hut”- Cluster Overgrowth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

B. Vögeli ,
M. Kummer  and
H. Von Känel
B. Vögeli
Affiliation:
Laboratorium für Festkörperphysik, ETH Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich
M. Kummer
Affiliation:
Laboratorium für Festkörperphysik, ETH Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich
H. Von Känel
Affiliation:
Laboratorium für Festkörperphysik, ETH Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich
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Abstract

We show that the capping of Ge/Si(001) hut clusters with epitaxial Si cannot be easily realised. Even for growth temperatures as low as 300°C, Ge segregation during the Si deposition leads to a Si1-xGex alloy in both the wetting layer and the clusters which reduces the misfit of the system. In turn it is no longer beneficial to release the strain energy by forming small islands. On the contrary, there appears to be a metastable state for exhibiting a flat surface. Thus we find a 3D to 2D transition which at low Si coverages is probably thermally activated. At higher coverages, however, the transition becomes a barrier-less, resulting in the complete dissolution of the hut clusters. Annealing experiments prove that the resulting 2×8 reconstructed Si1-xGex surface is not in thermodynamic equilibrium. During the melting of a hut cluster a number of new facets are formed, mainly at the edges of the clusters and at the top, where the apex becomes substituted by a {001} facet. Our results emphasize that the melting of the Ge/Si(001) hut clusters is a serious obstacle to their application, e. g. in electroluminescence devices. It has to be solved, e. g. by the use of surfactants.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 533: Symposium FF – Epitaxy & Applications of Si-Based Heterostructures , 1998 , 209
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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