Uprooting defects to enable high-performance III–V optoelectronic devices on silicon

The monolithic integration of III-V compound semiconductor devices with silicon presents physical and technological challenges, linked to the creation of defects during the deposition process. Herein, a new defect elimination strategy in highly mismatched heteroepitaxy is demonstrated to achieve a ultra-low dislocation density, epi-ready Ge/Si virtual substrate on a wafer scale, using a highly scalable process. Dislocations are eliminated from the epilayer through dislocation-selective electrochemical deep etching followed by thermal annealing, which creates nanovoids that attract dislocations, facilitating their subsequent annihilation. The averaged dislocation density is reduced by over three orders of magnitude, from ~108 cm−2 to a lower-limit of ~104 cm−2 for 1.5 µm thick Ge layer. The optical properties indicate a strong enhancement of luminescence efficiency in GaAs grown on this virtual substrate. Collectively, this work demonstrates the promise for transfer of this technology to industrial-scale production of integrated photonic and optoelectronic devices on Si platforms in a cost-effective way.

InGaAs Quantum Dots on Cross-Hatch Patterns as a Host for Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Medium

Storage density on magnetic medium is increasing at an exponential rate. The magnetic region that stores one bit of information is correspondingly decreasing in size and will ultimately reach quantum dimensions. Magnetic quantum dots (QDs) can be grown using semiconductor as a host and magnetic constituents added to give them magnetic properties. Our results show how molecular beam epitaxy and, particularly, lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxy can be used to form laterally aligned, high-density semiconducting host in a single growth run without any use of lithography or etching. Representative results of how semiconductor QD hosts arrange themselves on various stripes and cross-hatch patterns are reported.

Influence of Hydrogen Plasma Treatment on He Implantation-Induced Nanocavities in Silicon

ABSTRACTHe implantation followed by thermal anneal is a well-established technique for creating layers or bands of cavities in silicon. This process is a consequence of the interaction between He and ion-implant-induced vacancies. Applications of such cavity layers include gettering and localized minority carrier lifetime control, and compliant substrates for lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxy. Studies have shown that the presence of interstitial-type defects can lead to the shrinkage of He-cavities due to the interstitial capture by the cavities. However, few of them deal with the interaction of cavities with vacancies. Here we present results on the formation of He-cavities in Si in the presence of atomic hydrogen and vacancies produced by effusion of hydrogen. Following a helium implant, samples were hydrogenated with an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) hydrogen plasma. Control samples without any hydrogenation were also used. We studied the influence of hydrogen on void morphology. While hydrogen enhances void size at higher energy implants, the enhancement effect is absent in lower energy implants. The results underscore the role of vacancies in void formation and growth.