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Characterization and Manipulation of Exposed Ge Nanocrystals

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Abstract

Isotopically pure 70Ge and 74Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 thin films on Si substrates have been fabricated through ion implantation and thermal annealing. Nanocrystals were subsequently exposed using a hydrofluoric acid etching procedure to selectively remove the oxide matrix while retaining up to 69% of the implanted Ge. Comparison of transmission electron micrographs (TEM) of as-grown crystals to atomic force microscope (AFM) data of exposed crystals reveals that the nanocrystal size distribution is very nearly preserved during etching. Therefore, this process provides a new means to use AFM for rapid and straightforward determination of size distributions of nanocrystals formed in a silica matrix. Once exposed, nanocrystals may be transferred to a variety of substrates, such as conducting metal films and optically transparent insulators for further characterization.

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Acknowledgments

I.D.S. acknowledges support from the Intel Robert N. Noyce fellowship. D.O.Y. acknowledges support from the U.C. Berkeley and Luce Foundation Fellowships. Q.X. acknowledges support through a U.C. Berkeley Fellowship. D.C.C. and E.E.H. acknowledge support by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science. This work is supported in part by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC03-76F00098 and in part by U.S. NSF Grant Nos. DMR-0109844 and EEC-0085569.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    I.D. Sharp, Q. Xu, C.Y. Liao, D.O. Yi, J.W. Ager III, J.W. Beeman, K.M. Yu, D.N. Zakharov, Z. Liliental-Weber, D. C. Chrzan & E.E. Haller

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    I.D. Sharp, Q. Xu, C.Y. Liao, D. C. Chrzan & E.E. Haller

  3. Applied Science and Technology Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    D.O. Yi

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  1. I.D. Sharp
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  2. Q. Xu
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  3. C.Y. Liao
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  4. D.O. Yi
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  5. J.W. Ager III
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  6. J.W. Beeman
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  7. K.M. Yu
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  8. D.N. Zakharov
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  9. Z. Liliental-Weber
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  10. D. C. Chrzan
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  11. E.E. Haller
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Sharp, I., Xu, Q., Liao, C. et al. Characterization and Manipulation of Exposed Ge Nanocrystals. MRS Online Proceedings Library 818, 1–6 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-818-M13.3.1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-818-M13.3.1

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