Suppressing of island formation in surfactant-controlled solid phase epitaxy of germanium on Si(100)

Smooth epitaxial 10 and 30 nm germanium layers have been grown on Si(100) by surfactant-controlled solid phase epitaxy. The layers were characterized by reflection high energy electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. By depositing one monolayer antimony on top of the amorphous germanium layer it was possible to crystallize the germanium directly into a smooth epitaxial structure without any island formation. The obtained low-defect layers are relaxed.