Abstract
Nanocrystalline GaSb films were grown on Si(001) from the stoichiometric Ga–Sb mixture using solid-phase epitaxy at temperatures of 200–500 °C. Use of the solid-phase epitaxy method allowed the suppression of Ga surface diffusion and prevention of intense Sb desorption. At the annealing temperature of 300 °C, a 14-nm-thick GaSb film aggregates, while a 20-nm-thick GaSb film remains continuous with a roughness of 1.74 nm. A GaSb film with a thickness of 20 nm consists of crystalline grains with a size of 9–16 nm. They were compressed by ~2%. For some GaSb grains, new epitaxial relationships have been found: GaSb||Si and GaSb||Si, GaSb||Si and GaSb||Si, and GaSb||Si and GaSb||Si.
Highlights
The integration of III–V semiconductor optoelectronic components with silicon technology, in particular those based on gallium antimonide (GaSb), is currently an important task for the semiconductor industry and fundamental science [1]
Many studies are underway to find the optimal conditions for the formation of a defect-free GaSb film on Si(001) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
One of the main problems in the formation of a continuous GaSb film by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a high surface diffusion of Ga atoms [5], which results in the formation of a low concentration of nucleation centers; as a result, large GaSb crystalline blocks with sizes up to 200 nm are formed [6]
Summary
The integration of III–V semiconductor optoelectronic components with silicon technology, in particular those based on gallium antimonide (GaSb), is currently an important task for the semiconductor industry and fundamental science [1]. Gallium antimonide heteroepitaxy on a clean silicon substrate would be the simplest way for large-scale integration This approach proved difficult due to a number of reasons: a large lattice mismatch (~12%) between GaSb and silicon; a large difference between their thermal expansion coefficients (about 3 times) [2]; and a difference in the chemical bonds of the crystal lattice—GaSb is an ion crystal, while Si is a covalent one. One of the main problems in the formation of a continuous GaSb film by MBE is a high surface diffusion of Ga atoms [5], which results in the formation of a low concentration of nucleation centers; as a result, large GaSb crystalline blocks with sizes up to 200 nm are formed [6]. Since no desorption of Sb occurs [14] and Ga diffusion is strongly suppressed, Ga and Sb can be deposited in a 1:1 ratio
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