Germanium on Nothing for Nanowire Devices

Abstract

The authors present a fabrication process by which Germanium-on-nothing (GON) can achieve ordered arrays of locally thinned Ge nanowires for integration into CMOS or sensor applications. GON involves epitaxial Ge grown in oxide trenches on a Si substrate and then a series of wet and dry etching define the suspended wire structures. Arrays of GON nanowires, as small as 147 nm long and 48 nm wide, have been attained through this method. GON has the potential to monolithically integrate Ge NWs for transistor and NEMS applications on a Si substrate.