Kinetic Effects of O-Vacancy Generated by GeO₂/Ge Interfacial Reaction

Abstract

Ge is a promising candidate for replacing Si for future complementary metal–oxide–semiconductors (CMOSs) because of its high mobility. However, the intrinsic GeO 2 /Ge instability is a major obstacle to achieving a good interface. The reaction at the GeO 2 /Ge interface and the kinetic effects initiated by the interfacial reaction are systematically studied in this paper. The interfacial reaction is regarded as a redox reaction mediated by the oxygen vacancy (V o ). Owing to the incorporation of V o into GeO 2 , several kinetic effects are brought about. In this paper, we discuss these V o -induced kinetic effects such as GeO desorption, GeO 2 crystallization with an α-quartz-like phase, and local void formation on GeO 2 . A unified model is proposed by taking V o generation at the GeO 2 /Ge interface into consideration.