Carrier and heat transport properties of polycrystalline GeSn films on SiO2

Abstract

We evaluated the potential of polycrystalline (poly-) GeSn as channel material for the fabrication of thin film transistors (TFTs) at a low thermal budget (<600 °C). Poly-GeSn films with a grain size of ∼50 nm showed a carrier mobility of ∼30 cm2 V−1 s−1 after low-temperature annealing at 475–500 °C. Not only carrier mobility but also thermal conductivity of the films is important in assessing the self-heating effect of the poly-GeSn channel TFT. The thermal conductivity of the poly-GeSn films is 5–9 W m−1 K−1, which is significantly lower compared with 30–60 W m−1 K−1 of bulk Ge; this difference results from phonon scattering at grain boundaries and Sn interstitials. The poly-GeSn films have higher carrier mobility and thermal conductivity than poly-Ge films annealed at 600 °C, because of the improved crystal quality and coarsened grain size resulting from Sn-induced crystallization. Therefore, the poly-GeSn film is well-suited as channel material for TFTs, fabricated with a low thermal budget.