Humble planar defects in SiGe nanopillars

TL;DR

This paper identifies a new planar defect in SiGe nanopillars, using microscopy and calculations to understand its structure, formation, and differences from bulk materials, revealing insights into defect behavior in nanostructures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel planar defect in SiGe nanopillars and combines experimental and theoretical methods to analyze its structure and formation.

Findings

Discovery of a new 001 planar defect in SiGe nanopillars

The defect structure matches the Humble defect model for diamond

The defect formation process differs from bulk semiconductors

Abstract

We report a new \{001\} planar defect found in SiGe nanopillars. The defect structure, determined by atomic resolution electron microscopy, matches the Humble defect model proposed for diamond. We also investigated several possible variants of the Humble structure using first principles calculations and found that the one lowest in energy was also in best agreement with the STEM images. The pillar composition has been analyzed with electron energy loss spectroscopy, which hints at how the defect is formed. Our results show that the structure and formation process of defects in nanostructured group IV semiconductors can be different from their bulk counterparts.