Electronic Structure of Germanium Nanocrystal Films Probed with Synchrotron Radiation

The fundamental structure--property relationship of semiconductor quantum dots has been investigated. For deposited germanium nanocrystals strong quantum confinement effects have been determined with synchrotron radiation based x-ray absorption and photoemission techniques. The nanocrystals are condensed out of the gas phase with a narrow size distribution and subsequently deposited in situ onto various substrates. The particles are crystalline in the cubic phase with a structurally disordered surface shell and the resulting film morphology depends strongly on the substrate material and condition. The disordered surface region has an impact on the overall electronic structure of the particles. In a size-dependent study, the conduction and valence band edge of germanium nanocrystals have been measured for the first time and compared to the bulk crystal. The band edges move to higher energies as the particle size is decreased, consistent with quantum confinement theory. To obtain a more accurate analysis of confinement effects in the empty states, a novel analysis method utilizing an effective particle size for the x-ray absorption experiment, which allows a deconvolution of absorption edge broadening effects, has been introduced. Comparison of the present study to earlier studies on silicon reveals that germanium exhibits stronger quantum confinement effects than silicon. Below amore » critical particle size of 2.3 {+-} 0.7 nm, the band gap of germanium becomes larger than that of silicon--even if it is the opposite for bulk materials. This result agrees phenomenologically with effective mass and tight binding theories but contradicts the findings of recent pseudopotential calculations. The discrepancy between theory and experiments is attributed to the differences in the theoretical models and experimental systems. The experimentally observed structural disorder of the particle surface has to be included in the theoretical models.« less