Substrate temperature dependent surface morphology and photoluminescence of germanium quantum dots grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

The visible luminescence from Ge nanoparticles and nanocrystallites has generated interest due to the feasibility of tuning band gap by controlling the sizes. Germanium (Ge) quantum dots (QDs) with average diameter ~16 to 8 nm are synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under different g...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2012-10, Vol.13 (10), p.12880-12889
Main Authors: Samavati, Alireza, Othaman, Zulkafli, Ghoshal, Sib Krishna, Dousti, Mohammad Reza, Kadir, Mohammed Rafiq Abdul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annealing
Ge quantum dots
Germanium - chemistry
Islands
Microscopy, Atomic Force
Morphology
Nanoparticles
Optical properties
Particle Size
Quantum dots
Quantum Dots - chemistry
RMS roughness
Scanning electron microscopy
Spectrum analysis
Surface Properties
Temperature
visible photoluminescence
X-Ray Diffraction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The visible luminescence from Ge nanoparticles and nanocrystallites has generated interest due to the feasibility of tuning band gap by controlling the sizes. Germanium (Ge) quantum dots (QDs) with average diameter ~16 to 8 nm are synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under different growth conditions. These QDs with narrow size distribution and high density, characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) are obtained under the optimal growth conditions of 400 °C substrate temperature, 100 W radio frequency powers and 10 Sccm Argon flow. The possibility of surface passivation and configuration of these dots are confirmed by elemental energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The room temperature strong visible photoluminescence (PL) from such QDs suggests their potential application in optoelectronics. The sample grown at 400 °C in particular, shows three PL peaks at around ~2.95 eV, 3.34 eV and 4.36 eV attributed to the interaction between Ge, GeO(x) manifesting the possibility of the formation of core-shell structures. A red shift of ~0.11 eV in the PL peak is observed with decreasing substrate temperature. We assert that our easy and economic method is suitable for the large-scale production of Ge QDs useful in optoelectronic devices.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms131012880