Abstract
The processes of the crystallization of amorphous germanium films and multilayer germanium/silicon structures upon exposure to nanosecond (70 ns) ruby laser radiation (λ = 694 nm) are studied. The samples are grown on silicon and glassy substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Pulsed laser annealing of the samples is conducted in the range of pulse energy densities Ep from 0.07 to 0.8 J cm–2. The structure of the films after annealing is determined by analyzing the scanning electron microscopy data and Raman spectra. It is established that, after annealing, the films are completely crystallized and, in this case, contain regions of coarse crystalline grains (>100 nm), whose fraction increases, as Ep is increased, and reaches 40% of the area. From analysis of the position of the Raman peaks, it is conceived that the crystalline grains, whose dimensions exceed 100 nm, either contain structural defects or stretching strains. The correlation length of optical vibrations is determined from the phonon confinement model and found to increase from 5 to 8 nm, as Ep is increased. Pulsed laser annealing of multilayer Ge(10 nm)/Si(5 nm) structures induces partial intermixing of the layers with the formation of Ge–Si alloys.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, government order, Program of basic research at the Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, no. 0306-2016-0015; the part of the study concerned with growth of samples was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, government order, Program of basic research at the Institute of Physics and Technology, Yaroslavl Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, no. 0066-2018-0010.
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Translated by E. Smorgonskaya
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Volodin, V.A., Krivyakin, G.K., Ivlev, G.D. et al. Crystallization of Amorphous Germanium Films and Multilayer a-Ge/a-Si Structures upon Exposure to Nanosecond Laser Radiation. Semiconductors 53, 400–405 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063782619030217
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063782619030217