Growth of strained-layer GaAs/Ge superlattices by magnetron sputtering:: Optical and structural characterization

Strained layer superlattices of GaAs/Ge/GaAs and Ge/GaAs/Ge have been grown by magnetron sputtering of different intercalated layer thickness. The samples exhibited good crystallographic quality, pseudomorphic growth on the substrate, as well as superlattice characteristics. Layer periodicity, concentration profile and the thicknesses of the resultant films were examined by high-resolution x-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, infrared (IR) optical transmission measurements, and Raman spectroscopy. The heterostructures exhibited IR attenuation peaks in transmission between 0.5 and 1.0 eV, whose energy position was characterized as a function of the thickness of the intercalated thinner layers. The combined results of these techniques reveal that the intended GaAs layers are in fact composed of (GaAs)(1-x)(Ge-2)(x) alloys with a few percent Ge content. Experimental and theoretical results have been modeled with the transmittance model, which assumes that light hits the surface normally and takes the alternating layer thicknesses as variable parameters. Both, experimental and theoretical results agree to within 3%. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.