High performance germanium N+∕P and P+∕N junction diodes formed at low Temperature (⩽380°C) using metal-induced dopant activation

Abstract

We demonstrate high performance Ge N+∕P and P+∕N junction diodes at sub-380°C. Very low resistivity (2.2×10−4Ωcm) and shallow (92nm) junction with high degree of dopant activation are achieved especially in N+∕P junction formed at 360°C on Ge epitaxially grown on Si using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor process compatible-metal (Co) induced dopant activation technique. Excellent diode characteristics having ∼2×104 on/off ratio and high forward current density (221A∕cm2 for N+∕P and 135A∕cm2 for P+∕N at ∣VF∣=2V) are obtained in N+∕P and P+∕N junction diodes fabricated at 380°C on bulk Ge with a surface passivated layer [GeO2+low temperature chemical vopor deposition SiO2 (LTO)] isolation.