Alloying in GeSi:Si (001) epitaxial nanocrystals

Author(s)

Marina Soares Leite

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin
• Defense date: 2007-09-14

Examining board members

Gilberto Medeiros Ribeiro; Belita Koiller; Mônica Alonso Cotta; Antonio Jose Roque da Silva; Alfredo Gontijo de Oliveira

• Advisor: Gilberto Medeiros Ribeiro

Abstract

The structural and electronic properties of nanoscale materials strongly depend on the chemical composition, as well as their size and shape. A big variety of morphologies can be achieved by controlling the experimental conditions during the epitaxial growth of Ge on a Si(001) substrate. In particular, three-dimensional islands with well defined size and shape are formed in order to minimize the system's total energy. The work presented in this thesis consist in the study of the alloying in GeSi:Si(001) crystalline islands obtained by epitaxial growth methods in the kinetically-limited and the quasi-equilibrium regimes, beyond the chemical composition and strain ¯elds determination of these nanostructures. In the kinetically-limited regime the Quantum Dot Molecules (QDMs) were investigated. These nanostructures are composed by a central f 105 g faceted pit and four elongated islands, also 105 faceted, at the pit surrounding, and formed by a cooperative nucleation process. The QDMs were obtained by molecular beam epitaxy for speci¯c growth conditions: Si0:7Ge0:3, substrate temperature of 550 C and deposition rate of 1.0 º A/s. The narrow size distribution of the ensemble of islands allowed the chemical composition and strain fields maps by Grazing Incidence Anomalous X-Ray Diffraction (GIXRD), besides the complex symmetry involved. The Ge concentration was found to vary significantly from the nominal composition, it is almost 100 % at the islands top, indicating a strong atomic redistribution during the film growth, associated to surface diffusion processes. Compressed and tensile regions were found to co-exist inside the QDMs and the Si substrate, in agreement with finite element calculations performed for the same morphologies for the lattice relaxation. The alloying issue in GeSi islands and the mechanisms influence were investigated for different morphologies corresponding to the quasi-equilibrium regime. The driving forces for alloying - stress and the chemical potential gradient - and the thermodynamical potentials - enthalpy, mixing entropy and the Gibbs free energy - were quantitatively evaluated for an ensemble of samples of dome shaped islands obtained by chemical vapor deposition. Pos-growth annealing in H2 and PH3 environments were used in analogy with an open and closed systems from the thermodynamical point of view, respectively. The mixing entropy was found to have a strong contribution to the total energy, prevailing from the enthalpy, associated with the strain. The are essentially three different mechanisms involved in the alloying of epitaxial nanocrystals: intermixing between Si/Ge atoms during growth, surface diffusion, and intraisland diffusion. The relative importance of each mechanism was evaluated in determining a particular composition profile for dome-shaped Ge:Si (001) islands using a selective chemical etching and GIXRD measurements. For samples grown at a faster rate, intermixing during growth was reduced. Si surface diffusion dominates during H2 annealing (opened system), whereas Ge surface diffusion and intraisland diffusion prevail during annealing in a PH3 environment (closed system concerning Si). Also in the quasi-equilibrium regime, the superdomes (SDs) formation were studies. These islands, with well defined facets, are formed trough the dome-shaped ones and present dislocation which relieves the strain. These nanostructures are formed due to Ostwald ripening process, where the larger islands growth by consuming the smaller ones. Summarizing, the chemical composition were investigated in SiGe:Si(001) epitaxial nanostructures with different morphologies. The alloying processes were experimentally evaluated. Finally, the thermodynamical potentials were investigated in detail for nanoscale systems (AU)