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Graphene quality indicators obtained by Raman spectroscopy have been correlated to the structural changes of the graphene/Germanium interface as a function of in-vacuum thermal annealing. Specifically, it is found that graphene becomes markedly defected at 650 {\deg}C. By combining scanning tunneling microscopy, x-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Near Edge x-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy, we conclude that these defects are due to the release of H_{2} gas trapped at the graphene/Germanium interface. The H_{2} gas was produced following the transition from the as-grown hydrogen-termination of the Ge(110) surface to the emergence of surface reconstructions in the substrate. Interestingly, a complete self-healing process is observed in graphene upon annealing to 800 {\deg}C. The subtle interplay revealed between the microscopic changes occurring at the graphene/Germanium interface and graphene's defect density is valuable for advancing graphene growth, controlled 2D-3D heterogeneous materials interfacing and integrated fabrication technology on semiconductors.

We develop a generalized theory for the scattering process produced by interface roughness on charge carriers and which is suitable for any semiconductor heterostructure. By exploiting our experimental insights into the three-dimensional atomic landscape obtained on Ge/GeSi heterointerfaces obtained by atom probe tomography, we have been able to define the full set of interface parameters relevant to the scattering potential, including both the in-plane and axial correlation inside real diffuse interfaces. Our experimental findings indicate a partial coherence of the interface roughness along the growth direction within the interfaces. We show that it is necessary to include this feature, previously neglected by theoretical models, when heterointerfaces characterized by finite interface widths are taken into consideration.

We systematically investigate the chemical vapor deposition growth of graphene on Ge(110) as a function of the deposition temperature close to the Ge melting point. By merging spectroscopic and morphological information, we find that the quality of graphene films depends critically on the growth temperature improving significantly by increasing this temperature in the 910-930 {\deg}C range. We correlate the abrupt improvement of the graphene quality to the formation of a quasi-liquid Ge surface occurring in the same temperature range, which determines increased atom diffusivity and sublimation rate. Being observed for diverse Ge orientations, this process is of general relevance for graphene synthesis on Ge.

Si/Ge heteroepitaxial dots under tensile strain are grown on nanostructured Ge substrates produced by high-temperature flash heating exploiting the spontaneous faceting of the Ge(001) surface close to the onset of surface melting. A very diverse growth mode is obtained depending on the specific atomic structure and step density of nearby surface domains with different vicinal crystallographic orientations. On highly-miscut areas of the Ge(001) substrate, the critical thickness for islanding is lowered to about 5 ML, in contrast to the 11 ML reported for the flat Ge(001) surface, while on unreconstructed (1x1) domains the growth is Volmer-Weber driven. An explanation is proposed considering the diverse relative contributions of step and surface energies on misoriented substrates. In addition, we show that the bottom-up pattern of the substrate naturally formed by thermal annealing determines a spatial correlation for the dot sites.

By combining scanning probe microscopy with Raman and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, we investigate the evolution of CVD-grown graphene/Ge(001) as a function of the deposition temperature in close proximity to the Ge melting point, highlighting an abrupt change of the graphene's quality, morphology, electronic properties and growth mode at 930 degrees. We attribute this discontinuity to the incomplete surface melting of the Ge substrate and show how incomplete melting explains a variety of diverse and long-debated peculiar features of the graphene/Ge(001), including the characteristic nanostructuring of the Ge substrate induced by graphene overgrowth. We find that the quasi-liquid Ge layer formed close to 930 degrees is fundamental to obtain high-quality graphene, while a temperature decrease of 10 degrees already results in a wrinkled and defective graphene film., Comment: in press

n-type Ge/SiGe terahertz quantum cascade laser are investigated using non-equilibrium Green's functions calculations. We compare the temperature dependence of the terahertz gain properties with an equivalent GaAs/AlGaAs QCL design. In the Ge/SiGe case, the gain is found to be much more robust to temperature increase, enabling operation up to room temperature. The better temperature robustness with respect to III-V is attributed to the much weaker interaction with optical phonons. The effect of lower interface quality is investigated and can be partly overcome by engineering smoother quantum confinement via multiple barrier heights., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

In this paper we investigate the structural and optical properties of few strain-unbalanced multiple Ge/GeSi quantum wells pseudomorphically grown on GeSi reverse-graded substrates. The obtained high epitaxial quality demonstrates that strain symmetrization is not a mandatory requirement for few quantum-well repetitions. Photoluminescence data, supported by a thorough theoretical modeling, allow us to unambiguously disentangle the spectral features of the quantum wells from those originating in the virtual substrate and to evaluate the impact on the optical properties of key parameters, such as quantum confinement, layer compositions, excess carrier density, and lattice strain. This detailed understanding of the radiative recombination processes is of paramount importance for the development of Ge/GeSi-based optical devices.

An extended formation of faceted pit-like defects on Ge(001) and Ge(111) wafers was obtained by thermal cycles to T> 750 {\deg}C. This temperature range is relevant in many surface-preparation recipes of the Ge surface. The density of the defects depends on the temperature reached, the number of annealing cycles performed and correlates to the surface-energy stability of the specific crystal orientation. We propose that the pits were formed by preferential desorption from the strained regions around dislocation pile-ups. Indeed, the morphology of the pits was the same as that observed for preferential chemical etching of dislocations while the spatial distribution of the pits was clearly non-Poissonian in line with mutual interactions between the core dislocations., Comment: European Union (EU), Horizon 2020, Far-Infrared Lasers Assembled using Silicon Heterostructures,FLASH,Grant number: 766719

In this work we shed light on the early stage of the chemical vapor deposition of graphene on Ge(001) surfaces. By a combined use of microRaman and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we were able to individuate a carbon precursor phase to graphene nucleation which coexists with small graphene domains. This precursor phase is made of C aggregates with different size, shape and local ordering which are not fully sp2 hybridized. In some atomic size regions these aggregates show a linear arrangement of atoms as well as the first signature of the hexagonal structure of graphene. The carbon precursor phase evolves in graphene domains through an ordering process, associated to a re-arrangement of the Ge surface morphology. This surface structuring represents the embryo stage of the hills-and-valleys faceting featured by the Ge(001) surface for longer deposition times, when the graphene domains coalesce to form a single layer graphene film.

Germanium is emerging as the substrate of choice for the growth of graphene in CMOS-compatible processes. For future application in next generation devices the accurate control over the properties of high-quality graphene synthesized on Ge surfaces, such as number of layers and domain size, is of paramount importance. Here we investigate the role of the process gas flows on the CVD growth of graphene on Ge(100). The quality and morphology of the deposited material is assessed by using microRaman spectroscopy, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, scanning electron and atomic force microscopies. We find that by simply varying the carbon precursor flow different growth regimes - yielding to graphene nanoribbons, graphene monolayer and graphene multilayer - are established. We identify the growth conditions yielding to a layer-by-layer growth regime and report on the achievement of homogeneous monolayer graphene with an average intensity ratio of 2D and G bands in the Raman map larger than 3.

We report on the fabrication and electronic transport characterisation of Schottky-gated strongly confined Si/SiGe quantum point contacts (QPC). At zero magnetic field and T=450mK the QPC conductance as a function of gate voltage shows a quantization in units of e^2/h, indicative of transport through 1D modes which appear to lack both spin and valley degeneracy., Comment: 2 pages, 2 figure, to be published in Proc. ICPS-28

We fabricated strongly confined Schottky-gated quantum point contacts by etching Si/SiGe heterostructures and observed intriguing conductance quantization in units of approximately 1e2/h. Non-linear conductance measurements were performed depleting the quantum point contacts at fixed mode-energy separation. We report evidences of the formation of a half 1e2/h plateau, supporting the speculation that adiabatic transmission occurs through 1D modes with complete removal of valley and spin degeneracies., Comment: to appear in Physical Review B

Low field magnetotransport revealing signatures of ballistic transport effects in strained Si/SiGe cavities is investigated. We fabricated strained Si/SiGe cavities by confining a high mobility Si/SiGe 2DEG in a bended nanowire geometry defined by electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching. The main features observed in the low temperature magnetoresistance curves are the presence of a zero-field magnetoresistance peak and of an oscillatory structure at low fields. By adopting a simple geometrical model we explain the oscillatory structure in terms of electron magnetic focusing. A detailed examination of the zero-field peak lineshape clearly shows deviations from the predictions of ballistic weak localization theory., Comment: Submitted to Physical Review B, 25 pages, 7 figures