Growth of one-dimensional Si/SiGe heterostructures by thermal CVD

The first results on a simple new process for the direct fabrication of one-dimensional superlattices using common CVD chambers are presented. The experiments were carried out in a 200 mm industrial Centura reactor (Applied Materials). Low dimensionality and superlattices allow a significant increase in the figure of merit of thermoelectrics by controlling the transport of phonons and electrons. The monocrystalline nanowires produced according to this process are both one-dimensional and present heterostructures, with very thin layers (40 nm) of Si and SiGe. Concentrations up to 30 at.% Ge were obtained in the SiGe parts. Complementary techniques including transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) in bright field and high angle annular dark field (HAADF STEM), and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EF-TEM) were used to characterize the nanoheterostructures. © IOP Publishing Ltd