Combined Iodine- and Sulfur-based Treatments for an Effective Passivation of GeSn Surface

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that combined sulfur- and iodine-based surface treatments effectively passivate GeSn alloys, significantly reducing oxide formation and enhancing surface stability for optoelectronic applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel combined sulfur- and iodine-based passivation method for GeSn surfaces, improving stability and reducing reoxidation compared to individual treatments.

Findings

HI treatment reduces surface oxide more effectively.

Combined HI+(NH4)2S treatment maintains low oxide levels for up to 1 hour.

The treatment method is compatible with device processing.

Abstract

GeSn alloys are metastable semiconductors that have been proposed as building blocks for silicon-integrated short-wave and mid-wave infrared photonic and sensing platforms. Exploiting these semiconductors requires, however, the control of their epitaxy and their surface chemistry to reduce non-radiative recombination that hinders the efficiency of optoelectronic devices. Herein, we demonstrate that a combined sulfur- and iodine-based treatments yields effective passivation of Ge and Ge0.9Sn0.1 surfaces. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were used to investigate the dynamics of surface stability and track the reoxidation mechanisms. Our analysis shows that the largest reduction in oxide after HI treatment, while HF+(NH4)2S results in a lower re-oxidation rate. A combined HI+(NH4)2S treatment preserves the lowest oxide ratio <10 % up to 1 hour of air exposure, while less than half of the initial oxide coverage is reached after 4 hours. These results highlight the potential of S- and I-based treatments in stabilizing the GeSn surface chemistry thus enabling a passivation method that is compatible with materials and device processing.