Thermally activated diffusion and lattice relaxation in (Si)GeSn materials

TL;DR

This study investigates the thermal diffusion and relaxation behaviors of GeSn and SiGeSn alloys, revealing enhanced low-temperature diffusion driven by metastability, which impacts their phase stability and potential applications.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of interdiffusion processes in GeSn and SiGeSn alloys during annealing, highlighting the role of metastability in their thermal behavior.

Findings

Enhanced Sn and Si diffusion below 600°C

Subtle differences between binary and ternary alloys

Metastability drives phase separation

Abstract

Germanium-Tin (GeSn) alloys have emerged as a promising material for future optoelectronics, energy harvesting and nanoelectronics owing to their direct bandgap and compatibility with existing Si-based electronics. Yet, their metastability poses significant challenges calling for in-depth investigations of their thermal behavior. With this perspective, this work addresses the interdiffusion processes throughout thermal annealing of pseudomorphic GeSn binary and SiGeSn ternary alloys. In both systems, the initially pseudomorphic layers are relaxed upon annealing exclusively via thermally induced diffusional mass transfer of Sn. Systematic post-growth annealing experiments reveal enhanced Sn and Si diffusion regimes that manifest at temperatures below 600{\deg}C. The amplified low-temperature diffusion and the observation of only subtle differences between binary and ternary hint at the unique metastability of the Si-Ge-Sn material system as the most important driving force for phase separation.