Formation of zero-dimensional hole states during molecular-beam epitaxy of Ge on Si (100)

The characteristic features of electronic spectra in Ge/Si (100) heterostructures obtained by molecular-beam epitaxy are investigated by capacitance spectroscopy. It is observed that the self-organization of a Ge film into an island film when the effective germanium thickness exceeds six monolayers is accompanied by the appearance of hole bound states, which can be attributed to size quantization and the Coulomb interaction of carriers in the array of Ge quantum dots.