Structural characterization of buried superconducting Ga rich films in Si

Recently it has been shown that heavily p-doped group-IV semiconductors such as diamond, silicon and germanium can become superconducting at low temperatures. Here, we present a study of Ga-implanted Si that becomes superconducting due to precipitation after annealing. Ion implantation allows introducing a high Ga dose (4E16cm-2) in Si that leads to peak concentrations far beyond the solid solubility limit. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) causes redistribution of the Ga and re-crystallization of the amorphous implanted Si layer. After annealing at temperatures up to 850 C the implanted layers are polycrystalline and contain Ga-rich precipitates. Structural investigations by means of RBS/C measurements and TEM demonstrate a high density of precipitates at the interface of a protective SiO2 layer and the silicon substrate. At optimized annealing conditions (600-700 C) such samples become superconducting with critical temperatures up to 7 K.