LPE Growth of Doped Sige Layers Using Multicomponent Phase Diagrams Calculations

ABSTRACTHeavy doping of n-type Si-Ge alloys is necessary for improving their high temperature thermoelectric properties. Because of the limited solid solubility of the best dopant available, phosphorus, simultaneous additions of gallium were started several years ago. The substantially higher carrier concentration values obtained in such super-saturated, hot-pressed SiGe/GaP materials point to significant changes in dopant solid solubilities. To better understand the behavior of these alloys, investigation of homogeneous single crystalline materials were needed. As a near-thermodynamic equilibrium technique with processing temperatures well below the melting point of these materials, liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) was particularly suited to the study of the mechanisms of multidoping. Based on successful crystal growth of Si1-xGex thin films using metals such as Ga, In, Sn and Bi for solvents, several experiments were designed to grow multi-doped SiGe layers with III-V dopant combinations. Knowledge of ternary and quaternary phase diagrams is essential to develop the LPE process. Ternary Si-Ge-M systems computations in good agreement with experimental determinations were used to calculate some of the necessary multicomponent phase diagrams and assess the strength of the various III–V interactions.