Investigations of segregation phenomena in highly strained Mn-doped Ge wetting layers and Ge quantum dots embedded in silicon

Abstract

In this Letter, we investigate manganese diffusion and the formation of Mn precipitates in highly strained, few monolayer thick, Mn-doped Ge wetting layers and nanometric size Ge quantum dot heterostructures embedded in silicon. We show that in this Ge(Mn)/Si system manganese always precipitates and that the size and the position of Mn clusters (precipitates) depend on the growth temperature. At high growth temperature, manganese strongly diffuses from germanium to silicon, whereas decreasing the growth temperature reduces the manganese diffusion. In the germanium quantum dots layers, Mn precipitates are detected, not only in partially relaxed quantum dots but also in fully strained germanium wetting layers between the dots.