Growth and structural characterisation of Si/SiGe heterostructures for optoelectronic applications

The availability of compliant substrates has opened new avenues to exploit SiGe materials for optoelectronic applications. In this paper, relevant issues including fabrication of compliant substrates through compositionally graded buffer layers, strain (stress) balance in active layer design and X-ray characterisation are discussed. Quantum cascade structures designed for light emitting devices at THz range are grown using a combination of low pressure chemical vapour deposition and gas source molecular beam epitaxy in a single growth system. The results of structural characterisation by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy show that by following stringent design criteria, active layer structures more than 4 μm thick with low threading dislocation density can be achieved. Electroluminance in the THz frequency range have been observed from these structures.