Ultra-dense phosphorus in germanium delta-doped layers

Phosphorus (P) in germanium (Ge) delta-doped layers are fabricated in ultra-high vacuum by adsorption of phosphine molecules onto an atomically flat clean Ge(001) surface followed by thermal incorporation of P into the lattice and epitaxial Ge overgrowth by molecular beam epitaxy. Structural and electrical characterizations show that P atoms are confined, with minimal diffusion, into an ultra-narrow 2-nm-wide layer with an electrically-active sheet carrier concentration of 4x10^13 cm-2 at 4.2 K. These results open up the possibility of ultra-narrow source/drain regions with unprecedented carrier densities for Ge n-channel field effect transistors

Influence of encapsulation temperature on Ge:P delta-doped layers

We present a systematic study of the influence of the encapsulation temperature on dopant confinement and electrical properties of Ge:P delta-doped layers. For increasing growth temperature we observe an enhancement of the electrical properties accompanied by an increased segregation of the phosphorous donors, resulting in a slight broadening of the delta-layer. We demonstrate that a step-flow growth achieved at 530 C provides the best compromise between high crystal quality and minimal dopant redistribution, with an electron mobility ~ 128 cm^2/Vs at a carrier density 1.3x10^14 cm-2, and a 4.2 K phase coherence length of ~ 180 nm.Comment: Phys. Rev. B, in press (2009

Light effective hole mass in undoped Ge/SiGe quantum wells

We report density-dependent effective hole mass measurements in undoped germanium quantum wells. We are able to span a large range of densities ($2.0-11\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$) in top-gated field effect transistors by positioning the strained buried Ge channel at different depths of 12 and 44 nm from the surface. From the thermal damping of the amplitude of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, we measure a light mass of $0.061m_e$ at a density of $2.2\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$. We confirm the theoretically predicted dependence of increasing mass with density and by extrapolation we find an effective mass of $\sim0.05m_e$ at zero density, the lightest effective mass for a planar platform that demonstrated spin qubits in quantum dots

Modeling picosecond electron dynamics of pump-probe intersubband spectroscopy in n-type Ge/SiGe quantum wells

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Low disordered, stable, and shallow germanium quantum wells: a playground for spin and hybrid quantum technology

Buried-channel semiconductor heterostructures are an archetype material platform to fabricate gated semiconductor quantum devices. Sharp confinement potential is obtained by positioning the channel near the surface, however nearby surface states degrade the electrical properties of the starting material. In this paper we demonstrate a two-dimensional hole gas of high mobility ($5\times 10^{5}$ cm$^2$/Vs) in a very shallow strained germanium channel, which is located only 22 nm below the surface. This high mobility leads to mean free paths $\approx6 \mu m$, setting new benchmarks for holes in shallow FET devices. Carriers are confined in an undoped Ge/SiGe heterostructure with reduced background contamination, sharp interfaces, and high uniformity. The top-gate of a dopant-less field effect transistor controls the carrier density in the channel. The high mobility, along with a percolation density of $1.2\times 10^{11}\text{ cm}^{-2}$, light effective mass (0.09 m$_e$), and high g-factor (up to $7$) highlight the potential of undoped Ge/SiGe as a low-disorder material platform for hybrid quantum technologies

Electronic structure of phosphorus and arsenic d-doped germanium

Density functional theory in the LDA+U approximation is used to calculate the electronic structure ofgermanium d doped with phosphorus and arsenic. We characterize the principal band minima of the twodimensional electron gas created by d doping and their dependence on the dopant concentration. Populated first at low concentrations is a set of band minima at the perpendicular projection of the bulk conduction band minima at L into the (kx ,ky ) plane. At higher concentrations, band minima at and become involved. Valley splittings and effective masses are computed using an explicit-atom approach, taking into account the effects of disorder in the arrangement of dopant atoms in the d plane

The formation of a Sn monolayer on Ge(1 0 0) studied at the atomic scale

The growth of multi-layer germanium-tin (GeSn) quantum wells offers an intriguing pathway towards the integration of lasers in a CMOS platform. An important step in growing high quality quantum well interfaces is the formation of an initial wetting layer. However, key atomic-scale details of this process have not previously been discussed. We use scanning tunneling microscopy combined with density functional theory to study the deposition of Sn on Ge(1 0 0) at room temperature over a coverage range of 0.01 to 1.24 monolayers. We demonstrate the formation of a sub-2% Ge content GeSn wetting layer from three atomic-scale characteristic ad-dimer structural components, and show that small quantities of Sn incorporate into the Ge surface forming two atomic configurations. The ratio of the ad-dimer structures changes with increasing Sn coverage, indicating a change in growth kinetics. At sub-monolayer coverage, the least densely packing ad-dimer structure is most abundant. As the layer closes, forming a two-dimensional wetting layer, the more densely packing ad-dimer structure become dominant. These results demonstrate the capability to form an atomically smooth wetting layer at room temperature, and provide critical atomic-scale insights for the optimization of growth processes of GeSn multi-quantum-wells to meet the quality requirements of optical GeSn-based devices

Disentangling elastic and inelastic scattering pathways in the intersubband electron dynamics of n -type Ge/SiGe quantum fountains

n-type Ge/SiGe quantum wells have been suggested as a promising platform for the realization of a Si-compatible THz laser. Focusing on this material system, we have developed a numerical model to describe the intersubband carrier dynamics which restores the equilibrium after pulsed optical excitation in asymmetric coupled Ge/SiGe quantum wells. We take into account inelastic and elastic scattering processes and investigate different quantum-well geometries, doping densities, and excitation regimes. In this configuration space, we disentangle the effect on the overall dynamics of each scattering channel and provide intersubband relaxation times, finding larger values with respect to III-V based materials, thanks to the weaker electron-phonon coupling with respect to III-V compounds. Finally, the model is used to study and optimize the population inversion between the first- and second-excited subband levels and to assess its dependence on the lattice temperature, providing a sound theoretical framework to guide forthcoming experiments