Formation and Device Application of Ge Nanowire Heterostructures via Rapid Thermal Annealing

We reviewed the formation of Ge nanowire heterostructure and its field-effect characteristics by a controlled reaction between a single-crystalline Ge nanowire and Ni contact pads using a facile rapid thermal annealing process. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy demons...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jianshi Tang, Chiu-Yen Wang, Faxian Xiu, Yi Zhou, Lih-Juann Chen, Kang L. Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2011-01-01
Series:Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/316513
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Summary:We reviewed the formation of Ge nanowire heterostructure and its field-effect characteristics by a controlled reaction between a single-crystalline Ge nanowire and Ni contact pads using a facile rapid thermal annealing process. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated a wide temperature range of 400~500°C to convert the Ge nanowire to a single-crystalline Ni2Ge/Ge/Ni2Ge nanowire heterostructure with atomically sharp interfaces. More importantly, we studied the effect of oxide confinement during the formation of nickel germanides in a Ge nanowire. In contrast to the formation of Ni2Ge/Ge/Ni2Ge nanowire heterostructures, a segment of high-quality epitaxial NiGe was formed between Ni2Ge with the confinement of Al2O3 during annealing. A twisted epitaxial growth mode was observed in both two Ge nanowire heterostructures to accommodate the large lattice mismatch in the NixGe/Ge interface. Moreover, we have demonstrated field-effect transistors using the nickel germanide regions as source/drain contacts to the Ge nanowire channel. Our Ge nanowire transistors have shown a high-performance p-type behavior with a high on/off ratio of 105 and a field-effect hole mobility of 210 cm2/Vs, which showed a significant improvement compared with that from unreacted Ge nanowire transistors.
ISSN:1687-8434
1687-8442