Interface formation in semiconductor heterostructures at atomic resolution

Abstract

The composition and morphology of interfaces in modern semiconductor devices is important, as it might have decisive influence on the device performance. There might be intrinsic factors influencing certain interface structures, like strain between two materials forming the interface or a polarity difference between them. In this contribution we use aberration-corrected high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy together with image simulation to quantify the structure of carefully selected examples for buried semiconductor interfaces. The so-derived structures are also compared to simulations taking into account kinetic and thermodynamic effects using kinetic-Monte-Carlo and Density-Functional-Theory techniques. Finally, the structure and composition of buried interfaces are correlated to the optoelectronic properties for some examples.