Epitaxy advance promises SiGe optoelectronics
Optoelectronic devices based on smooth SiGe layers could result from an innovative material deposition technology developed by US scientists.
Semiconductor source materials supplier Voltaix has acquired exclusive rights to use the technique, which was developed by John Kouvetakis and colleagues at Arizona State University.
The key to the deposition technology is the use of new SiGe precursors to control the morphology of CVD-grown films more precisely.
Those precursor compounds are known as silyl-germyl molecules. They are said to allow the deposition of smooth, fully-relaxed germanium-rich SiGe layers at under 500°C with less than 106 dislocations per cm2.
According to Kouvatekis: "This family of compounds also provides a unique route to a new class of epitaxial layers and coherent islands (quantum dots) of germanium-rich SiGeSn optoelectronic materials fully integrated with silicon technologies."
Voltaix supplies high-purity specialty gases and chemicals, including germane, silicon tetrafluoride and trimethylsilane.