Nanostructure and Strain Field in Vertically Aligned Nano-Islands for Si/Ge 2D Photonic Nanocrystals.

Abstract

AbstractThe local strain field and the intermixing of a Ge nano-islands (NIs)/Si spacer stacked structure in a novel solar cell with a p-i-n type Si single crystal with two-dimensional photonic nanocrystals connecting to the vertically aligned NIs were analyzed using electron microscopy. High-angle annular dark field-scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM) images show intermixing between Ge and Si clearly and reveal that the surface segregation of Ge becomes advanced. The average composition of the NIs is Ge0.42Si0.58, which is almost constant in a row of vertically aligned NIs. The local strain analysis results obtained from the high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images show that the strain state is partially relaxed after the elastic relaxation of NIs.