Improvement of the Thermal Stability of Nickel Stanogermanide by Carbon Pre-Stanogermanidation Implant into GeSn Substrate

Abstract

An effective method to improve the thermal stability of Ni(Ge 1-x Sn x ) by carbon pre-stanogermanidation implant into GeSn substrate is investigated systematically. As-prepared samples were characterized by means of sheet resistance measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM) and secondary ions mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The incorporation of carbon leads to significantly improved thermal stability of Ni(Ge 1-x Sn x ) by about 100 • C as well as tends to change the preferred orientations of polycrystalline Ni(Ge 1-x Sn x ). The robust thermal stability can be attributed to the segregation of C in grain boundaries and at Ni(Ge 1-x Sn x )/GeSn interface after stanogermanidation.

Growth and applications of GeSn-related group-IV semiconductor materials

“…The incorporation of Pt with a ratio of 1/3 to the Ni layer on the Ge 0.947 Sn 0.053 epitaxial layer and annealing at 350–550 °C causes the formation of a polycrystalline film that consists of Ni(GeSn) + Pt x (GeSn) y , and the thermal stability of the polycrystalline film is improved up to 500 °C. C pre-implantation to Ge 1− x Sn x also effectively improves the thermal stability of the poly-Ni(Ge 1− x Sn x ) layer on Ge 1− x Sn x [112]. It is known that C incorporation into Ge substrates improves the thermal stability of poly-NiGe films on Ge substrate [113, 114], and this technology should also be available in poly-Ni(Ge 1− x Sn x )/Ge 1− x Sn x systems.…”

Growth and applications of GeSn-related group-IV semiconductor materials

“…The incorporation of Pt with a ratio of 1/3 to the Ni layer on the Ge 0.947 Sn 0.053 epitaxial layer and annealing at 350-550°C causes the formation of a polycrystalline film that consists of Ni(GeSn) + Pt x (GeSn) y , and the thermal stability of the polycrystalline film is improved up to 500°C. C preimplantation to Ge 1−x Sn x also effectively improves the thermal stability of the poly-Ni(Ge 1−x Sn x ) layer on Ge 1−x Sn x [112]. It is known that C incorporation into Ge substrates improves the thermal stability of poly-NiGe films on Ge substrate [113,114], and this technology should also be available in poly-Ni(Ge 1−x Sn x )/Ge 1−x Sn x systems.…”

Si and SiGe Nanowire for Micro-Thermoelectric Generator: A Review of the Current State of the Art

“…Nickel has been applied to the SiGe with carbon doping and the thermal stability of Ni(SiGeC) is improved compared with Ni(SiGe) (Hållstedt et al, 2004). A similar thermal stability enhancement by carbon doping has also been observed in Ni(Ge) and Ni(GeSn) (Liu et al, 2014. Moreover, instead of traditional TiSi 2 , TiSi x , and TiSi x Ge y are used for the Ti-based ohmic contacts (Mao et al, 2017;Mao and Luo, 2019).…”