Observation of field emission from GeSn nanoparticles epitaxially grown on silicon nanopillar arrays.
We apply molecular beam epitaxy to grow GeSn-nanoparticles on top of Si-nanopillars patterned onto p-type Si wafers. We use x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to confirm a metallic behavior of the nanoparticle surface due to partial Sn segregation as well as the presence of a superficial Ge oxide. We report the observation of stable field emission (FE) current from the GeSn-nanoparticles, with turn on field of [Formula: see text] and field enhancement factor β ∼ 100 at anode-cathode distance of ∼0.6 μm. We prove that FE can be enhanced by preventing GeSn nanoparticles oxidation or by breaking the oxide layer through electrical stress. Finally, we show that GeSn/p-Si junctions have a rectifying behavior.
Physics Department 'E. R. Caianiello', University of Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II, I-84084, Fisciano, Italy.
Antonio
A
Di Bartolomeo
Maurizio
M
Passacantando
Gang
G
Niu
Viktoria
V
Schlykow
Grzegorz
G
Lupina
Filippo
F
Giubileo
Thomas
T
Schroeder