Structural study of Ge/GaAs thin films

Abstract

Ge/GaAs heterostructure research is largely motivated by the application of this material in solar cells, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors, mm-wave mixer diodes, temperature sensors and photodetectors. Therefore, understanding of how the properties of Ge/GaAs heterostructure depend on its preparation (growth) is of importance for various high-efficiency devices. In this work, by using thermal Ge evaporation on GaAs(100), we studied structural properties of these films as a function of the deposition rate. Film grains size and morphology show strong dependence of the deposition rate. Low deposition rates results in films with large crystal grains and rough surface. At high deposition rates films become flatter and their crystal grains size decreases, while at very high deposition rates films become amorphous. Cross-sectional TEM of the films show that the Ge films are granular single crystal epitaxially grown on GaAs. The Ge/GaAs interface is atomically abrupt and free from misfit dislocations. Stacking faults along the [111] directions that originate at the interface were also observed. Finally by using the Kelvin probe microscopy we show that work function changes are related to the grain structure of the film.