MOVPE growth and characterization of heteroepitaxial germaniumon silicon using iBuGe as precursor

Being an attractive and demanding candidate in the field of energy conversion, germanium has attainedwidespread applications. The present work is aimed at the study of metal organic vapour phase epitaxyof germanium thin films on (0 0 1) silicon at different growth temperatures using isobutyl germane asa precursor. The epilayers were characterized by X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission elec-tron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy in order to understand thestructural and morphological properties. The films were found to be epitaxially grown and single crys-talline with slight misorientation (below 0.1 degrees). The interface between the film and substrate wasanalyzed in depth and different temperature dependent growth behaviours were evidenced. The majorrelevant lattice imperfections observed were attributed to planar defects and threading dislocations.