Near infrared photoluminescence of Si1–xGex quantum dots fabricated by double hot Ge+/Si+ implantation into SiO2 layer

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In this study, we developed very simple and ULSI (ultra large scale integration) compatible fabrication processes for group-IV (Si1–xGex and Si) semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to apply hybrid ULSIs with photonic and electron devices, using double Ge+/Si+ hot-ion implantation into a SiO2 layer with larger bandgap EG and the post-furnace annealing. We successfully demonstrated the near-infrared (IR) photoluminescence (PL) from Si1–xGex-QDs. Transmission electron microscopy observations of single-crystallized Si1–xGex-QDs revealed that the diameter and the QD density were 3.6 ± 0.9 nm and (2.6 ± 0.4) × 1012 cm−2, respectively. In addition, Ge atoms were detected in the Si1–xGex-QDs by the energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis, and the Ge fraction of Si1–xGex-QDs was varied from 0.06 to 0.26 by changing the Ge ion dose. The increase in the PL intensity by forming gas annealing was attributed to the dangling-bond reduction by the H-atom termination method. The PL spectrum of Si1–xGex-QDs was fitted by PL components of two QD structures containing Si1–xGex and Si materials. The PL intensity and PL-peak photon energy of Si1–xGex-QDs strongly depended on the Ge fraction. The Si1–xGex-QDs achieved the maximum PL intensity at x ≈ 0.13. High PL-peak photon energy (∼1.31 eV) of Si1–xGex-QDs is attributed to the quantum confinement effect of carriers in QDs. Consequently, group-IV semiconductor QDs including Si1–xGex, Si, SiC, and C, through the simple hot-ion implantation into the SiO2 layer, exhibited a wide range of PL emissions from the near-IR to ultraviolet regions.