Structural and electrical properties of sol–gel derived Ge nanocrystals in SiO2 films

Understanding the Formation of Elemental Germanium by Thermolysis of Sol-Gel Derived Organogermanium Oxide Polymers

“…Ge-NCs have been synthesized by a variety of chemical and physical approaches. − Free-standing Ge-NCs show promise in applications such as Bragg reflectors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and biological imaging , by virtue of their high refractive index and PL that extends well into the near-IR. Oxide-embedded Ge-NCs have been investigated for use in optical devices ,,,, as well as nonvolatile memory, ,, where the smaller band gap, larger Bohr exciton radius, and lower carrier effective masses compared to Si offer fast switching and write/erase speeds.…”

Matrix role in Ge nanoclusters embedded in Si3N4 or SiO2

“…[5][6][7][8]12,[15][16][17][18] Since it was shown that the fabrication techniques 19 and undesired Ge-O interaction 9 can affect the optical properties, we induced the formation of Ge NCs by implanting Ge ions in Si 3 N 4 or SiO 2 matrices and annealing. Implant energy (100 keV) and fluences (2.9À9.6 Â 10 16 Ge ions/cm 2 ) were chosen to induce the NC precipitation within 90 nm from the surface.…”

Carrier storage in Ge nanoparticles produced by pulsed laser deposition

“…Moreover, only charge trapping is observed when a discrete distribution of Ge NPs is introduced inside the matrix oxide layer with a Δ V FB shift to negative voltage values, indicating that additional positive charges (holes) from the Si substrate were collected inside the Ge NPs in the state of accumulation 13. The effective density of trapped charges ( N ch ) was calculated from the experimental values using the following equation 15:…”