Role of surface passivation on visible and infrared emission of Ge quantum dots formed by dewetting

The dual action of oxide-related defects in the visible and infrared emission of germanium (Ge) self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) is discussed. The Ge particles were fabricated by solid-state dewetting on a thin layer of $${\hbox {SiO}}₂$$ . Subsequent surface passivation by amorphous silicon was carried out for several samples. All samples were encapsulated by $${\hbox {SiO}}₂$$ . Atomic force microscopy analysis indicates a linear relationship between the size of QDs and the initial thickness of the amorphous Ge films. The crystallization of the QDs was evidenced by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Photoluminescence measurements show that the main visible emission is blue-green centred around 520 nm. The luminescence attributed to the radiative recombination of quantum-confined excitons is only observed when the surface is in-situ passivated prior to the deposition of the oxide matrix. The results of this work are helpful for optimizing the performance of the optoelectronic devices based on the infrared emission of Ge nanocrystals.