Synthesis of self-assembled Ge nano crystals employing reactive RF sputtering

This work presents the results of a simple methodology able to control crystal size, dispersion and spatial distribution of germanium nano crystals (Ge-NCs). It takes advantage of a self-assembled process taken place during the deposit of the system SiO₂/Ge/SiO₂ by reactive RF sputtering. Nanoparticles formation is controlled mainly by the roughness of the first SiO₂ layer buy the ulterior interaction of the interlayer with the top layer also play a role. Structural quality of germanium nano crystals increases with roughness and the interlayer thickness. The tetragonal phase of germanium is produced and its crystallographic quality improves with interlayer thickness and oxygen partial pressure. Room temperature photoluminescence emission without a post growth thermal annealing process indicates that our methodology produces a low density of non-radiative traps. The surface topography of SiO₂ reference samples was carried out by atomic force microscopy. The crystallographic properties of the samples were studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction at 1.5 degrees carried out in a Siemens D-5000 system employing the Cu Kα wavelength. (Author)