Defects in Germanium Nanocrystals Produced by Ion Implantation

Abstract

Germanium nanocrystals (Ge-nc) were produced by the implantation of Ge+ into a SiO2 film deposited on (100) Si, followed by a high-temperature annealing. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has been used to investigate the defect structures inside the Ge-nc produced by different implantation doses (1×1016, 2×1016, 4×1016 and 8×1016 cm-2). It has been found that the planar defects such as nanotwins and stacking faults (SFs) are dominant in Ge-nc (60%) for the samples with implantation doses higher than 2×1016 cm-2, while for the sample with an implantation dose lower than 1×1016 cm-2, fewer planar defects are observed in the Ge-nc (20%). The percentages of nanotwins in the planar defects are 87%, 77%, 67% and 60% in four samples, respectively. The twinning structures include single twins, double twins and multiple twins. We also found that there are only SFs in some nanocrystals, and in others the SFs coexist with twins. These microstructural defects are expected to play an important role in the light emission from the Ge-nc.