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Crystals
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Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy
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Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Crystalline Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2020) | Viewed by 22973

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Roberto Bergamaschini

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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20125 Milan, Italy
Interests: epitaxy; crystal growth modeling; semiconductors; phase-field; nanostructures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Elisa Vitiello

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Interests: optical properties of group IV heterostructures; epitaxy; semiconductor spintronics; silicon photonics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Semiconductor devices are currently ubiquitous in technology, with applications ranging from high-tech micro-electronics, optics and photovoltaics, to automotive and domotics, even in the most common products of everyday life. Conventional Si-based technology still makes up the biggest share of this field, but the need for extreme designs is pushing the research toward new material concepts. Heteroepitaxy offers a viable path for enhancing device performance to a new level, maintaining compatibility with the well-established Si platform. Integrating different semiconductors into innovative architectures to combine their advantageous properties and even tailor them to application needs—e.g. through band engineering and quantum confinement effects—opens a new world of possibilities. Besides, semiconductor heteroepitaxy poses serious challenges in the control of growth morphology, the management of misfit and thermal strains, and in defect formation and propagation, motivating the intense research activity in this field.

This Special Issue is intended to serve as an international forum for assessing the scientific and technological state-of-the-art of “Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy”, and explore its latest developments and applications at the forefront of innovation. Scientists working in the variety of involved disciplines are invited to contribute to this Special Issue.

This volume will cover a broad spectrum of topics, from theoretical studies and simulations to growth and characterization experiments, to applications enabled by heteroepitaxial systems. A list of the main subject areas includes:

  • Growth experiments of heteroepitaxial films, three-dimensional crystals and nanostructures.
  • Theory, modelling and simulation of the growth process.
  • Characterization of heteroepitaxial systems by spectroscopy and other advanced techniques
  • Theoretical modelling and calculations of material properties.
  • Structural characterization, crystal quality, interfaces and free surfaces, defects.
  • Elastic and plastic relaxation of misfit and thermal strain. Strain engineering.
  • Heterostructures for advanced applications, micro-electronics, photonics, energy production and conversion, sensoring, etc.

Dr. Roberto Bergamaschini
Dr. Elisa Vitiello
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Semiconductors
  • Heteroepitaxial growth
  • Growth modelling
  • Thin films
  • Nanostructures
  • Strain engineering
  • Opto-electronic properties
  • Structural characterization
  • Defects

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 147 KiB  
Editorial
Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy
by Roberto Bergamaschini and Elisa Vitiello
Crystals 2021, 11(3), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11030229 - 25 Feb 2021
Viewed by 1248
Abstract
The quest for high-performance and scalable devices required for next-generation semiconductor applications inevitably passes through the fabrication of high-quality materials and complex designs [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)

Research

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14 pages, 7123 KiB  
Article
In-Situ Annealing and Hydrogen Irradiation of Defect-Enhanced Germanium Quantum Dot Light Sources on Silicon
by Lukas Spindlberger, Johannes Aberl, Antonio Polimeni, Jeffrey Schuster, Julian Hörschläger, Tia Truglas, Heiko Groiss, Friedrich Schäffler, Thomas Fromherz and Moritz Brehm
Crystals 2020, 10(5), 351; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10050351 - 29 Apr 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3207
Abstract
While light-emitting nanostructures composed of group-IV materials fulfil the mandatory compatibility with CMOS-fabrication methods, factors such as the structural stability of the nanostructures upon thermal annealing, and the ensuing photoluminescence (PL) emission properties, are of key relevance. In addition, the possibility of improving [...] Read more.
While light-emitting nanostructures composed of group-IV materials fulfil the mandatory compatibility with CMOS-fabrication methods, factors such as the structural stability of the nanostructures upon thermal annealing, and the ensuing photoluminescence (PL) emission properties, are of key relevance. In addition, the possibility of improving the PL efficiency by suitable post-growth treatments, such as hydrogen irradiation, is important too. We address these issues for self-assembled Ge quantum dots (QDs) that are co-implanted with Ge ions during their epitaxial growth. The presence of defects introduced by the impinging Ge ions results in pronounced PL-emission at telecom wavelengths up to room temperature (RT) and above. This approach allows us to overcome the severe limitations of light generation in the indirect-band-gap group-IV materials. By performing in-situ annealing, we demonstrate a high PL-stability of the defect-enhanced QD (DEQD) system against thermal treatment up to 600 °C for at least 2 h, even though the Ge QDs are structurally affected by Si/Ge intermixing via bulk diffusion. The latter, in turn, allows for emission tuning of the DEQDs over the entire telecom wavelength range from 1.3 µm to 1.55 µm. Two quenching mechanisms for light-emission are discussed; first, luminescence quenching at high PL recording temperatures, associated with the thermal escape of holes to the surrounding wetting layer; and second, annealing-induced PL-quenching at annealing temperatures >650 °C, which is associated with a migration of the defect complex out of the QD. We show that low-energy ex-situ proton irradiation into the Si matrix further improves the light emission properties of the DEQDs, whereas proton irradiation-related optically active G-centers do not affect the room temperature luminescence properties of DEQDs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)
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13 pages, 2796 KiB  
Article
Intersubband Transition Engineering in the Conduction Band of Asymmetric Coupled Ge/SiGe Quantum Wells
by Luca Persichetti, Michele Montanari, Chiara Ciano, Luciana Di Gaspare, Michele Ortolani, Leonetta Baldassarre, Marvin Zoellner, Samik Mukherjee, Oussama Moutanabbir, Giovanni Capellini, Michele Virgilio and Monica De Seta
Crystals 2020, 10(3), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10030179 - 6 Mar 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3159
Abstract
n-type Ge/SiGe asymmetric coupled quantum wells represent the building block of a variety of nanoscale quantum devices, including recently proposed designs for a silicon-based THz quantum cascade laser. In this paper, we combine structural and spectroscopic experiments on 20-module superstructures, each featuring [...] Read more.
n-type Ge/SiGe asymmetric coupled quantum wells represent the building block of a variety of nanoscale quantum devices, including recently proposed designs for a silicon-based THz quantum cascade laser. In this paper, we combine structural and spectroscopic experiments on 20-module superstructures, each featuring two Ge wells coupled through a Ge-rich SiGe tunnel barrier, as a function of the geometry parameters of the design and the P dopant concentration. Through a comparison of THz spectroscopic data with numerical calculations of intersubband optical absorption resonances, we demonstrated that it is possible to tune, by design, the energy and the spatial overlap of quantum confined subbands in the conduction band of the heterostructures. The high structural/interface quality of the samples and the control achieved on subband hybridization are promising starting points towards a working electrically pumped light-emitting device. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)
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9 pages, 3378 KiB  
Article
Growth of Freestanding Gallium Nitride (GaN) Through Polyporous Interlayer Formed Directly During Successive Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) Process
by Haixiao Hu, Baoguo Zhang, Lei Liu, Deqin Xu, Yongliang Shao, Yongzhong Wu and Xiaopeng Hao
Crystals 2020, 10(2), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10020141 - 24 Feb 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3301
Abstract
The progress of nitride technology is widely limited and hindered by the lack of high-quality gallium nitride (GaN) wafers. Therefore, a large number of GaN epitaxial devices are grown on heterogeneous substrates. Although various additional treatments of substrate have been used to promote [...] Read more.
The progress of nitride technology is widely limited and hindered by the lack of high-quality gallium nitride (GaN) wafers. Therefore, a large number of GaN epitaxial devices are grown on heterogeneous substrates. Although various additional treatments of substrate have been used to promote crystal quality, there is still plenty of room for its improvement, in terms of direct and continuous growth based on the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technique. Here, we report a three-step process that can be used to enhance the quality of GaN crystal by tuning V/III rate during successive HVPE process. In the growth, a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown GaN on sapphire (MOCVD-GaN/Al2O3) was employed as substrate, and a high-quality GaN polyporous interlayer, with successful acquisition, without any additional substrate treatment, caused the growth stress to decrease to 0.06 GPa. Meanwhile the quality of GaN improved, and the freestanding GaN was directly obtained during the growth process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)
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9 pages, 3012 KiB  
Article
Selective Area Epitaxy of GaAs/Ge/Si Nanomembranes: A Morphological Study
by Monica Bollani, Alexey Fedorov, Marco Albani, Sergio Bietti, Roberto Bergamaschini, Francesco Montalenti, Andrea Ballabio, Leo Miglio and Stefano Sanguinetti
Crystals 2020, 10(2), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10020057 - 22 Jan 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2715
Abstract
We demonstrate the feasibility of growing GaAs nanomembranes on a plastically-relaxed Ge layer deposited on Si (111) by exploiting selective area epitaxy in MBE. Our results are compared to the case of the GaAs homoepitaxy to highlight the criticalities arising by switching to [...] Read more.
We demonstrate the feasibility of growing GaAs nanomembranes on a plastically-relaxed Ge layer deposited on Si (111) by exploiting selective area epitaxy in MBE. Our results are compared to the case of the GaAs homoepitaxy to highlight the criticalities arising by switching to heteroepitaxy. We found that the nanomembranes evolution strongly depends on the chosen growth parameters as well as mask pattern. The selectivity of III-V material with respect to the SiO2 mask can be obtained when the lifetime of Ga adatoms on SiO2 is reduced, so that the diffusion length of adsorbed Ga is high enough to drive the Ga adatoms towards the etched slits. The best condition for a heteroepitaxial selective area epitaxy is obtained using a growth rate equal to 0.3 ML/s of GaAs, with a As BEP pressure of about 2.5 × 10−6 torr and a temperature of 600 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)
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Review

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36 pages, 9013 KiB  
Review
Heteroepitaxial Growth of III-V Semiconductors on Silicon
by Jae-Seong Park, Mingchu Tang, Siming Chen and Huiyun Liu
Crystals 2020, 10(12), 1163; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst10121163 - 21 Dec 2020
Cited by 62 | Viewed by 8596
Abstract
Monolithic integration of III-V semiconductor devices on Silicon (Si) has long been of great interest in photonic integrated circuits (PICs), as well as traditional integrated circuits (ICs), since it provides enormous potential benefits, including versatile functionality, low-cost, large-area production, and dense integration. However, [...] Read more.
Monolithic integration of III-V semiconductor devices on Silicon (Si) has long been of great interest in photonic integrated circuits (PICs), as well as traditional integrated circuits (ICs), since it provides enormous potential benefits, including versatile functionality, low-cost, large-area production, and dense integration. However, the material dissimilarity between III-V and Si, such as lattice constant, coefficient of thermal expansion, and polarity, introduces a high density of various defects during the growth of III-V on Si. In order to tackle these issues, a variety of growth techniques have been developed so far, leading to the demonstration of high-quality III-V materials and optoelectronic devices monolithically grown on various Si-based platform. In this paper, the recent advances in the heteroepitaxial growth of III-V on Si substrates, particularly GaAs and InP, are discussed. After introducing the fundamental and technical challenges for III-V-on-Si heteroepitaxy, we discuss recent approaches for resolving growth issues and future direction towards monolithic integration of III-V on Si platform. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Heteroepitaxy)
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