Comparison of cross-sectional transmission electron microscope studies of thin germanium epilayers grown on differently oriented silicon wafers.

We compare transmission electron microscopical analyses of the onset of islanding in the germanium-on-silicon (Ge/Si) system for three different Si substrate orientations: (001), (11¯0) and (11¯1)Si. The Ge was deposited by reduced pressure chemical vapour deposition and forms islands on the surface of all Si wafers; however, the morphology (aspect ratio) of the deposited islands is different for each type of wafer. Moreover, the mechanism for strain relaxation is different for each type of wafer owing to the different orientation of the (111) slip planes with the growth surface. Ge grown on (001)Si is initially pseudomorphically strained, yielding small, almost symmetrical islands of high aspect ratio (clusters or domes) on top interdiffused SiGe pedestals, without any evidence of plastic relaxation by dislocations, which would nucleate later-on when the islands might have coalesced and then the Matthews-Blakeslee limit is reached. For (11¯0)Si, islands are flatter and more asymmetric, and this is correlated with plastic relaxation of some islands by dislocations. In the case of growth on (11¯1)Si wafers, there is evidence of immediate strain relaxation taking place by numerous dislocations and also twinning. In the case of untwined film/substrate interfaces, Burgers circuits drawn around certain (amorphous-like) regions show a nonclosure with an edge-type a/4[1¯12] Burgers vector component visible in projection along [110]. Microtwins of multiples of half unit cells in thickness have been observed which occur at the growth interface between the Si(11¯1) buffer layer and the overlying Ge material. Models of the growth mechanisms to explain the interfacial configurations of each type of wafer are suggested.

Fractional Quantum Hall States in a Ge Quantum Well.

Measurements of the Hall and dissipative conductivity of a strained Ge quantum well on a SiGe/(001)Si substrate in the quantum Hall regime are reported. We analyze the results in terms of thermally activated quantum tunneling of carriers from one internal edge state to another across saddle points in the long-range impurity potential. This shows that the gaps for different filling fractions closely follow the dependence predicted by theory. We also find that the estimates of the separation of the edge states at the saddle are in line with the expectations of an electrostatic model in the lowest spin-polarized Landau level (LL), but not in the spin-reversed LL where the density of quasiparticle states is not high enough to accommodate the carriers required.

Ge/SiGe quantum confined Stark effect electro-absorption modulation with low voltage swing at λ = 1550 nm.

Low-voltage swing (≤1.0 V) high-contrast ratio (6 dB) electro-absorption modulation covering 1460 to 1560 nm wavelength has been demonstrated using Ge/SiGe quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) diodes grown on a silicon substrate. The heterolayers for the devices were designed using an 8-band k.p Poisson-Schrödinger solver which demonstrated excellent agreement with the experimental results. Modelling and experimental results demonstrate that by changing the quantum well width of the device, low power Ge/SiGe QCSE modulators can be designed to cover the S- and C-telecommunications bands.

Modulation of the absorption coefficient at 1.3 µm in Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well heterostructures on silicon.

We report modulation of the absorption coefficient at 1.3 µm in Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well heterostructures on silicon via the quantum-confined Stark effect. Strain engineering was exploited to increase the direct optical bandgap in the Ge quantum wells. We grew 9 nm-thick Ge quantum wells on a relaxed Si0.22Ge0.78 buffer and a contrast in the absorption coefficient of a factor of greater than 3.2 was achieved in the spectral range 1290-1315 nm.

Interfacial Engineering of Semiconductor-Superconductor Junctions for High Performance Micro-Coolers.

The control of electronic and thermal transport through material interfaces is crucial for numerous micro and nanoelectronics applications and quantum devices. Here we report on the engineering of the electro-thermal properties of semiconductor-superconductor (Sm-S) electronic cooler junctions by a nanoscale insulating tunnel barrier introduced between the Sm and S electrodes. Unexpectedly, such an interface barrier does not increase the junction resistance but strongly reduces the detrimental sub-gap leakage current. These features are key to achieving high cooling power tunnel junction refrigerators, and we demonstrate unparalleled performance in silicon-based Sm-S electron cooler devices with orders of magnitudes improvement in the cooling power in comparison to previous works. By adapting the junctions in strain-engineered silicon coolers we also demonstrate efficient electron temperature reduction from 300 mK to below 100 mK. Investigations on junctions with different interface quality indicate that the previously unexplained sub-gap leakage current is strongly influenced by the Sm-S interface states. These states often dictate the junction electrical resistance through the well-known Fermi level pinning effect and, therefore, superconductivity could be generally used to probe and optimize metal-semiconductor contact behaviour.