Mismatched heteroepitaxy of tetrahedral semiconductors with Si via ZrB 2 templates

Rahul Trivedi, Po Liang Liu, Radek Roucka, John Tolle, Andrew Chizmeshya, Ignatius S T Tsong, John Kouvetakis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

We demonstrate integration of cubic SiC (heterostructures and nanostructures) and assemblies of Ge nanoscale islands with Si substrates via a conductive and reflective ZrB 2 buffer layer. Hexagonal ZrB 2 is grown on cubic Si(111) via a coincidence-misfit mechanism in which the strain is accommodated by edge dislocations along the interface. Ge islands with uniform sizes and strain-free microstructures were grown on ZrB 2/Si(111) at 500°C via thermolysis of Ge 2H 6, circumventing the strain-driven (Stranski-Krastanov) island formation on Si and associated limitations. Heteroepitaxy between ZrB 2(0001) and Ge(111) is obtained via alignment of four lattice rows of Ge with every five rows of ZrB 2, (i.e., "magic mismatch") despite the large difference in lattice constants. Cubic SiC layers with monocrystalline microstructures and atomically abrupt interfaces are grown on ZrB 2/Si(111) via single source molecular beam epitaxy of C 2(SiH 3) 2 at 800°C. Nanoscale SiC islands with perfectly coherent zinc blende structures are formed at higher temperatures such as 900°C. The SiC(111)/ZrB 2 interface structures were examined in both cases with high-resolution electron microscopy and compared with optimal bonding configurations derived from theoretical models.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4647-4652
Number of pages6
JournalChemistry of Materials
Volume17
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 6 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Materials Chemistry

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