Wangila, E.; Lytvyn, P.; Stanchu, H.; Gunder, C.; de Oliveira, F.M.; Saha, S.; Das, S.; Eldose, N.; Li, C.; Zamani-Alavijeh, M.; Benamara, M.; Mazur, Y.I.; Yu, S.-Q.; Salamo, G.J. Growth of Germanium Thin Films on Sapphire Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Crystals2023, 13, 1557.
Wangila, E.; Lytvyn, P.; Stanchu, H.; Gunder, C.; de Oliveira, F.M.; Saha, S.; Das, S.; Eldose, N.; Li, C.; Zamani-Alavijeh, M.; Benamara, M.; Mazur, Y.I.; Yu, S.-Q.; Salamo, G.J. Growth of Germanium Thin Films on Sapphire Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Crystals 2023, 13, 1557.
Wangila, E.; Lytvyn, P.; Stanchu, H.; Gunder, C.; de Oliveira, F.M.; Saha, S.; Das, S.; Eldose, N.; Li, C.; Zamani-Alavijeh, M.; Benamara, M.; Mazur, Y.I.; Yu, S.-Q.; Salamo, G.J. Growth of Germanium Thin Films on Sapphire Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Crystals2023, 13, 1557.
Wangila, E.; Lytvyn, P.; Stanchu, H.; Gunder, C.; de Oliveira, F.M.; Saha, S.; Das, S.; Eldose, N.; Li, C.; Zamani-Alavijeh, M.; Benamara, M.; Mazur, Y.I.; Yu, S.-Q.; Salamo, G.J. Growth of Germanium Thin Films on Sapphire Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Crystals 2023, 13, 1557.
Abstract
Germanium films were grown on c-plane sapphire with a 10 nm AlAs buffer layer using molecular beam epitaxy. The effects of Ge film thickness on the surface morphology and crystal structure were investigated by ex-situ characterization techniques. The nucleation of Ge proceeds by forming (111) oriented three-dimensional islands with two rotational twin domains about the growth axis. The boundaries between the twin grains are the origin of 0.2% strain and tilt grains. The transition to a single-grain orientation reduces the strain and results in a better-quality Ge buffer. Understanding the role of thickness on material quality during the Ge(111)/Al2O3(0001) epitaxy is vital for achieving device quality when using group IV material on the sapphire platform.
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