Open AccessLow‐temperature deposition of polycrystalline germanium on silicon by magnetron sputtering
Author(s) -
Korivi N.,
Nujhat N.,
Ahmed S.,
Jiang L.,
Das K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
electronics letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.375
H-Index - 146
ISSN - 1350-911X
DOI - 10.1049/el.2018.1291
Subject(s) - germanium , sputter deposition , materials science , silicon , deposition (geology) , polycrystalline silicon , optoelectronics , cavity magnetron , crystallite , sputtering , silicon germanium , germanium compounds , engineering physics , metallurgy , thin film , composite material , nanotechnology , engineering , geology , paleontology , layer (electronics) , sediment , thin film transistor
A new method is reported to grow polycrystalline germanium (Ge) on silicon (Si) at low temperatures by direct current magnetron sputtering. The method is based on first sputtering a nanometre scale thickness Si layer on a Si substrate, followed by sputtering a Ge layer of the desired thickness. Using this approach, polycrystalline Ge has been deposited on Si substrate at 300°C, the lowest reported process temperature for polycrystalline Ge on Si by sputter coating. Characterisation by X‐ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy showed polycrystalline Ge in the presence of a Si interfacial layer. In the absence of the interfacial Si layer, amorphous Ge was obtained under the same process conditions. These observations indicate that depositing a Si interfacial layer helps in improving the Ge film quality in low‐temperature deposition conditions. The approach developed here makes it possible to achieve post‐CMOS integration in applications that have low thermal budget, such as flexible electronics based on Si/Ge devices. The increased process flexibility offered by this method is also expected to enable new applications.