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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Growth rate of hexagonal SiGe multi-quantum wells

Wouter H. J. Peeters1,*, Marvin M. Jansen1,*, Mette F. Schouten1, Victor T. van Lange1, Marco Vettori1, Marcel A. Verheijen1,2, Jos E. M. Haverkort1, and Erik P. A. M. Bakkers1,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: e.p.a.m.bakkers@tue.nl
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Phys. Rev. B 111, L241302 – Published 11 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/d3zf-jft6

Abstract

Direct-band-gap light sources from group IV materials are highly desired for photonic integration. Among the possible candidates is the hex-Si1−xGex system, which has been demonstrated to have a direct band gap at least for x>65%. Recently, Ge-rich heterostructures of hex-Si1−xGex/Si1−yGey (x<y) have been demonstrated to have a type-I alignment. This unlocks opportunities for devices utilizing low-dimensional structures, such as quantum wells (QWs), based on group IV materials. Multi-quantum-well (MQW) structures can significantly reduce lasing thresholds, and a full understanding of the growth kinetics is necessary to grow MQWs with identical well thicknesses. Here, we report a study of hex-Si1−xGex multishells, of which the growth rate increases by a factor 4 over a shell thickness of 500 nm, indicating nucleation-limited growth. We present a model that hints that the increasing growth rate is due to the accumulation of cubic stacking faults at the growth front. This proposed mechanism is generic for the hex-SiGe system, and it has to be considered for any multilayer structure of hex-SiGe.

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Phys. Rev. B 111, L241302– Published 11 June, 2025
  • Received 26 November 2024
  • Revised 17 February 2025
  • Accepted 23 April 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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