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Ge with a quasi-direct band gap can be realized by strain engineering, alloying with Sn, or ultrahigh n-type doping. In this work, we use all three approaches together to fabricate direct-band-gap Ge-Sn alloys. The heavily doped n-type Ge-Sn is realized with CMOS-compatible nonequilibrium material processing. P is used to form highly doped n-type Ge-Sn layers and to modify the lattice parameter of P-doped Ge-Sn alloys. The strain engineering in heavily-P-doped Ge-Sn films is confirmed by x-ray diffraction and micro Raman spectroscopy. The change of the band gap in P-doped Ge-Sn alloy as a function of P concentration is theoretically predicted by density functional theory and experimentally verified by near-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. According to the shift of the absorption edge, it is shown that for an electron concentration greater than 1x10^20 cm-3 the band-gap renormalization is partially compensated by the Burstein-Moss effect. These results indicate that Ge-based materials have high potential for use in near-infrared optoelectronic devices, fully compatible with CMOS technology., 20 pages, 6 figures

Crystalline β-Ga2O3 thin films on (100)- and (111)-oriented Si substrates are produced by pulsed laser deposition. The as-deposited thin films are demonstrated to be polycrystalline and contain a slight deficit of oxygen atoms as measured by x-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, respectively. The crystallographic orientation of the Si substrate is found to play no role on the ultimate properties of the films. A direct optical band gap of 4.8 eV is determined by temperature-dependent photoluminescence excitation (PLE). Temperature-dependent PLE spectra reveal the existence of a deep acceptor level of around 1.1 eV with respect to the valence band related to self-trapped holes. We experimentally demonstrate that point defects in O-poor β-Ga2O3 thin films act as deep donors and the optical transitions are found to take place via recombination of electrons from one of the intrinsic deep donor levels with self-trapped holes located at 1.1 eV above the valence band. The 3.17 eV ultraviolet photoluminescence is proven to be related to self-trapped holes in a small polaron state between two O(II)-s sites, whereas the two blue (2.98, 2.72 eV) and the green (2.39 eV) luminescence bands are mainly originated from gallium-oxygen vacancy pairs in the (1-) charge state, gallium vacancies in the (2-) charge state and neutral oxygen interstitials, respectively.

The n-type doping of Ge is self-limiting process due to formation of the vacancy-donor complexes (Dn V with n≤4). Here we report on experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations solving the basic problem of donor deactivation in heavily doped Ge. The self-healing process of heavily doped n-type Ge is achieved by rear-side flash lamp annealing (r-FLA) for 20 ms with the peak temperature of about 1050 K. The positron-annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) reveals that the P4V clusters are main defects in the as-grown Ge:P samples. Millisecond range high-temperature treatment dissociates the phosphorus-vacancy cluster (P4V) and, as shown by SIMS, fully supress the P diffusion. The electrochemical capacitance-voltage (ECV) profiling shows that the effective carrier concentration in P doped Ge (P concentration - 1×1020 cm-3) increases from about 3×1019 cm-3 in as-grown sample to above 8×1019 cm-3 after r-FLA. For the first time using structural (PALS, SIMS) and electrical (ECV) characterization combined with DFT calculations we were able to addressed, explained and solved the fundamental problem hindering the full integration of Ge with CMOS technology.

A method for cross-sectional doping of individual Si/SiO2 core/shell nanowires (NWs) is presented. P and B atoms are laterally implanted at different depths in the Si core. The healing of the implantation-related damage together with the electrical activation of the dopants takes place via solid phase epitaxy driven by millisecond-range flash lamp annealing. Electrical measurements through a bevel formed along the NW enabled us to demonstrate the concurrent formation of n- and p-type regions in individual Si/SiO2 core/shell NWs. These results might pave the way for ion beam doping of nanostructured semiconductors produced by using either top-down or bottom-up approaches.

The intentional introduction of deep-level dopants into a semiconductor in excess of equilibrium concentrations causes a broadening of dopant energy levels into an intermediate band between the valence and conduction bands.[1,2] This phenomenon is referred to as hyperdoping. As intermediate-band material, bulk Si hyperdoped with chalcogens or transition metals holds promises for Si-based short-wavelength infrared photodetectors and solar cells.[3,4] Intermediate-band nanowires could potentially be used instead of bulk materials to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit and to improve efficiency in solar cells.[5,6] Here, we show a CMOS-compatible method based on non-equilibrium processing for the controlled doping of Si at the nanoscale with dopant concentrations several orders of magnitude above the equilibrium solid solubility. The approach relies on using ion implantation followed by flash lamp annealing for hyperdoping Si/SiO2 core/shell nanowires. We induce, by millisecond-flash lamp annealing, a bottom-up template-assisted solid-phase epitaxy recrystallization of the nanowires. This results in the formation of intermediate-band Se-hyperdoped nanowires which exhibit room-temperature sub-band gap optoelectronic photoresponse when configured as a photoconductor device. References [1] Sher M J, Mazur E, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2014;105:032103. [2] Ertekin E, Winkler M, T, Recht D, Said A J, Aziz M J, Buonassisi T, Grossman J C, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2012;108:026401. [3] Berencén Y, Prucnal S, Liu F, Skorupa I, Hübner R, Rebohle L, Zhou S, Schneider H, Helm M, Skorupa W, Sci. Rep. 2017;7:43688. [4] Mailoa J P, Akey A J, Simmons C B, Hutchinson D, Mathews J, Sullivan J T, Recht D, Winkler M T, Williams J S, Warrender J M, Persans P D, Aziz M J, Buonassisi T, Nat. Commun. 2014;5:3011. [5] Beard M C, Luther J M, Nozik A J, Nat. Nanotech. 2014;9:951. [6] Tian B, Zheng X, Kempa T J, Fang Y, Yu N, Yu G, Huang J, Lieber C M, Nature 2007:449;885.

Hyperdoping consists of the intentional introduction of deep‐level dopants into a semiconductor in excess of equilibrium concentrations. This causes a broadening of dopant energy levels into an intermediate band between the valence and the conduction bands. Recently, bulk Si hyperdoped with chalcogens or transition metals is demonstrated to be an appropriate intermediate‐band material for Si‐based short‐wavelength infrared photodetectors. Intermediate‐band nanowires can potentially be used instead of bulk materials to overcome the Shockley–Queisser limit and to improve efficiency in solar cells, but fundamental scientific questions in hyperdoping Si nanowires require experimental verification. The development of a method for obtaining controlled hyperdoping levels at the nanoscale concomitant with the electrical activation of dopants is, therefore, vital to understanding these issues. Here, this paper shows a complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS)‐compatible technique based on nonequilibrium processing for the controlled doping of Si at the nanoscale with dopant concentrations several orders of magnitude greater than the equilibrium solid solubility. Through the nanoscale spatially controlled implantation of dopants, and a bottom‐up template‐assisted solid phase recrystallization of the nanowires with the use of millisecond‐flash lamp annealing, Se‐hyperdoped Si/SiO2 core/shell nanowires are formed that have a room‐temperature sub‐bandgap optoelectronic photoresponse when configured as a photoconductor device.

We report on the hyperdoping of silicon with selenium obtained by ion implantation followed by flash lamp annealing. It is shown that the degree of crystalline lattice recovery of the implanted layers and the Se substitutional fraction depend on the pulse duration and energy density of the flash. While the annealing at low energy densities leads to an incomplete recrystallization, annealing at high energy densities results in a decrease of the substitutional fraction of impurities. The electrical properties of the implanted layers are well-correlated with the structural properties resulting from different annealing processing.

In the present work, we report the 25 MeV oxygen irradiation effects in n-type single crystal β-Ga2O3 at different fluences. We demonstrate that the symmetric stretching modes and bending vibrations of GaO4 and GaO6 units are impaired upon increasing O irradiation fluence. Blue and green photoluminescence emission bands are found to be mainly associated with gallium-oxygen divacancies, gallium vacancies and oxygen interstitials. The increase of optically active centers at low fluence and the photoluminescence quenching at high fluence are ascribed to the reduction of carrier density and the production of non-radiative recombination centers, respectively. The results envisage the possibility of obtaining pre-designed spectral behaviours by varying the oxygen irradiation fluence.

Mid-infrared plasmonic sensing allows the direct targeting of molecules relevance in the so-called “vibrational fingerprint region”. Presently, heavily doped semiconductors exhibiting the potential to replace and outperform metals in the mid- infrared frequency range to revolutionize plasmonic devices. In this work, we demonstrate the occurrence of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in Te heavily-doped Si layers developed by ion implantation combined with flash lamp annealing. We fabricate micrometer-sized antennas out of the Te-hyperdoped Si layers by electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching processes. The optical response characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy demonstrates the enhancement of localized plasmon resonances in antennas, from mid- to far- infrared frequency range. Our results set a new path toward integration of plasmonic sensors with the one-chip CMOS platform.

Hyperdoping has emerged as a promising method for designing semiconductors with unique physical properties. In general, these properties are primarily determined by the lattice location of the impurity atoms in the host material. In this contribution, the lattice location of implanted chalcogens in Si was experimentally determined by means of Rutherford backscattering/channeling (RBS/C). The implication on the electrical activation of chalcogens in Si will be discussed with respect to the Hall effect results. The obtained carrier concentration and the RBS angular scans across the and axis reveal that the electrically active/inactive concentration of Te correlates with the concentration of substitutional/interstitial site Te atoms. Surprisingly, contrary to the general belief, we find that the interstitial fraction decreases with increasing impurity concentration. This abnormal dependence of lattice location and electrical activation on impurity concentration suggests that the formation energy for the substitutional Te or Te-Te dimers in Si is lower than for the interstitial Te. This assumption is theoretically verified by the first-principles calculations.

Full integration of Ge-based alloys like GeSn with complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor technology would require the fabrication of p- and n-type doped regions for both planar and tri-dimensional device architectures which is challenging using in situ doping techniques. In this work, we report on the influence of ex situ doping on the structural, electrical and optical properties of GeSn alloys. n-type doping is realized by P implantation into GeSn alloy layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) followed by flash lamp annealing. We show that effective carrier concentration of up to 1 × 10^19 cm−3 can be achieved without affecting the Sn distribution. Sn segregation at the surface accompanied with an Sn diffusion towards the crystalline/amorphous GeSn interface is found at P fluences higher than 3 × 10^15 cm−2 and electron concentration of about 4 × 10^19 cm−3. The optical and structural properties of ion-implanted GeSn layers are comparable with the in situ doped MBE grown layers.

Presently,room-temperature broadband Si-based photodetectors are required for Si photonic systems.Here,we demonstrate roomtemperature sub-band gap photoresponse of photodiodes based on Si hyperdoped with Te.The epitaxially recrystallized Te-hyperdoped Si layers are developed by ion implantation combined with pulsed laser melting and incorporate Te concentrations beyond the solid solubility limit.An insulator-to-metal transition driven by increasing Te concentration accompanied with a band gap renormalization is observed.The optical absorptance is found to increase monotonically with increasing Te concentration and extends well into the mid- and far- infrared regions.This work contributes to establish room temperature Si-based broadband infrared photonic system.

Semiconducting nanowires (NWs) hold promises for functional nanoscale devices [1]. Although several applications have been demonstrated in the areas of electronics, photonics and sensing, the doping of NWs remains challenging. Ion implantation is a standard doping method in top-down semiconductor industry, which offers precise control over the areal dose and depth profile as well as allows for the doping of all elements of the periodic table even beyond their equilibrium solid solubility [2]. Yet its major disadvantage is the concurrent material damage. A subsequent annealing process is commonly used for the healing of implant damage and the electrical activation of dopants. This step, however, might lead to the out-diffusion of dopants and eventually the degradation of NWs because of the low thermal stability caused by the large surface–area-to-volume ratio. In this work, we report on non-equilibrium processing for controlled doping of drop-casted Si/SiO2 core/shell NWs with shallow- and deep-level dopants below and above their equilibrium solid solubility. The approach lies on the implantation of either shallow-level dopants, such as B and P, or deep-level dopants like Se followed by millisecond flash lamp annealing. In case of amorphization upon high-fluence implantation, recrystallization takes place via a bottom-up template-assisted solid phase epitaxy. Non-equilibrium Se concentrations lead to intermediate-band Si/SiO2 core/shell NWs that have room-temperature sub-band gap photoresponse when configured as a photoconductor device [3]. Alternatively, the formation of a cross-sectional p-n junction is demonstrated by co-implanting P and B in individual NWs at different depth along the NW core. [1] Peidong Yang, Ruoxue Yan, and Melissa Fardy, Nano Lett. 2010, 10, 1529–1536 [2] Michiro Sugitani, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 2014, 85, 02C315 [3] Y. Berencén, et al. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 2018, 5, 1800101

Presently, room-temperature infrared sub-band-gap photoresponse in Si is of great interest for the development of on-chip complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible photonic platforms [1]. One of the most promising approaches to further extend the photoresponse of Si to the mid- and far-infrared (MIR/FIR) ranges consists of introducing deep-level dopants into the Si band gap at concentrations in excess of the solid solubility limit [2]. In this work, we demonstrate strong room-temperature sub-band-gap photoresponse of photodiodes based on Si hyperdoped with tellurium [3]. A CMOS-compatible approach of combining ion implantation with pulsed laser melting was applied to synthesize single-crystalline and epitaxial Te-hyperdoped Si layers with a Te concentration five orders of magnitude above the solid solubility limit. Driven by increasing Te concentration, both the insulator-to-metal transition and a band-gap renormalization are observed. The sub-band optical absorptance in the resulting Te-hyperdoped Si layers is found to increase monotonically with increasing Te concentration and extends well into the MIR/FIR ranges (1.4 to 25 μm). Importantly, the MIR/FIR optoelectronic response from Te-hyperdoped Si photodiodes is demonstrated to be related with known Te deep-energy levels into the Si band-gap. This work contributes to pave the way towards establishing a Si-based broadband infrared photonic system operating at room temperature.