Nano-structure Ge formed in thin film SiO₂ using ion implantation

The preparation of amorphous insulating films containing nanometer-scaled structures of semiconductors has attracted increased attention since the observation of room temperature emission of light from films containing indirect-bandgap semiconductors such as Ge and Si. While most experimental reports on these Si and Ge nano-scale structures have been based on thin films created using sputter-deposition, in this study we have used conventional ion implantation of Ge to create the non-equilibrium mixture of materials that, upon annealing, develops a nano-crystallite phase embedded in the amorphous matrix. The presence of clusters that are difficult to image in TEM, in addition to microcrystallites, is an issue of interest since the source of light emission is still controversial. The second phase is formed from excess amounts of the semiconductor, in this case added by implantation. In this paper the formation and size distribution of the Ge nano-structures was characterized using Raman scattering and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Similarly to reported sputtered film results, Raman spectra suggest Ge clusters that are not well formed crystallites may be present for anneals at low temperatures and in unannealed films. For annealing temperatures exceeding 600°C, a mixture of amorphous-like clustering and nano-crystallites may result, depending on the volume fraction of Ge. For low dose samples it was found that temperature and time of annealing could be used to manipulate the nucleation behavior of the nano-crystallites.