The composition- and structure-dependent electronic band structure of SiGe alloys facilitates a rich variety of its application in various fields. In this study, we performed high-resolution core-level and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of unstrained SiGe single crystals with the (001) surface. Thermally cleaned surfaces of the single crystals of SiGe alloys exhibited double domain (2 × 1) reconstruction, wherein the asymmetric dimer was composed of Ge atoms, and Si atoms were located below the subsurface region. The compositional dependence of three valence bands and their constant energy contours were clearly resolved by three-dimensional ARPES measurements using the high-intensity synchrotron radiation. The valence bands of unstrained SiGe alloys could be well described by the composition-based interpolation of the band parameters of pristine Si and Ge crystals.
Read full abstract