Structures including passivated germanium

Details Structures including passivated germanium Structures including passivated germanium

2011-03-29

2011-03-29

Sarkar, Asok K (Department: 2891)

Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode

Physical configuration of semiconductor

Mesa structure

C257SE21116, C257SE23132

Reexamination Certificate

active

07915712

ABSTRACT:
A method of passivating germanium that comprises providing a germanium material and carburizing the germanium material to form a germanium carbide material. The germanium carbide material may be formed by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition by exposing the germanium material to a microwave-generated plasma that is formed from a carbon-containing source gas and hydrogen. The source gas may be a carbon-containing gas selected from the group consisting of ethylene, acetylene, ethanol, a hydrocarbon gas having from one to ten carbon atoms per molecule, and mixtures thereof. The resulting germanium carbide material may be amorphous and hydrogenated. The germanium material may be carburized without forming a distinct boundary at an interface between the germanium material and the germanium carbide material. An intermediate semiconductor device structure and a semiconductor device structure, each of which comprises the germanium carbide material, are also disclosed.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4589006 (1986-05-01), Hansen et al.
patent: 4735699 (1988-04-01), Wort et al.
patent: 4740442 (1988-04-01), Waddell et al.
patent: 4745041 (1988-05-01), Komatsu et al.
patent: 6380601 (2002-04-01), Ermer et al.
patent: 6794255 (2004-09-01), Forbes et al.
patent: 6844070 (2005-01-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 2005/0112048 (2005-05-01), Tsakalakos et al.
patent: 2005/0211988 (2005-09-01), Leycuras
patent: 2006/0249815 (2006-11-01), Forbes et al.
patent: 175118 (1953-06-01), None
patent: 79002542 (1979-02-01), None
patent: 62098361 (1987-05-01), None
Booth et al., “The Optical and Structural Properties of CVD Germanium Carbide,” Journal De Physique, 42(C-4), 1981, pp. 1033-1036.
Chen et al., “Electrical Properties of Si1-x-yGexCy and Ge1-yCy Alloys,” Journal of Electronic Materials, vol. 26, No. 12, 1997, pp. 1371-1375.
Dalal et al., “Microcrystalline Germanium Carbide—A New Material for PV Conversion,” Proceedings of the 2001 NCPV Program Review Meeting, Oct. 2001, pp. 348-349.
Herrold et al., “Growth and Properties of Microcrystalline Germanium-Carbide Alloys,” Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. vol. 557, Materials Research Society, 1999, pp. 561-566.
Kelly et al., “Application of Germanium Carbide in Durable Multilayer IR Coatings,” SPIE, vol. 1275, Hard Materials in Optics, 1990, pp. 122-134.
Kumru, Mustafa, “A Comparison of the Optical, IR, Electron Spin Resonance and Conductivity Properties of a-Ge1-xCx:H with a-Ge:H and a-Ge Thin Films Prepared by R.F. Sputtering,” Thin Solid Films, 198, 1991, pp. 75-84.
Liu et al., “Structure and Properties of Germanium Carbide Films Prepared by RF Reactive Sputtering in Ar/CH4,” Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 36, Part 1, No. 6A, Jun. 1997, pp. 3625-3628.
Mahan et al., “On the Influence of Short and Medium Range Order on the Material Band Gap in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 96, No. 7, Oct. 1, 2004, pp. 3818-3826.
Meyerson, Bernard S., “High-Speed Silicon-Germanium Electronics,” Scientific American, Mar. 1994, pp. 62-67.
Rizzoli et al., “Wide Band-Gap Silicon-Carbon alloys Deposited by Very High Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 96, No. 7, Oct. 1, 2004, pp. 3987-3997.
Shinar et al., “An IR, Optical, and Electron-Spin-Resonance Study of As-Deposited and Annealed a-Ge1-xCx:H Prepared by RF Sputtering in Ar/H2/C3H8,” Journal of Applied Physics, 62 (3), Aug. 1, 1987, pp. 808-812.
Shinar et al., “Electron Energy-Loss Studies on Radio Frequency Sputtered a-Ge1-xCx:H Films,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A 5 (5), Sep./Oct. 1987, pp. 2804-2808.
Shinar, Ruth, “Hydrogen Adsorption on Some a-Ge1-xCx:H Films Prepared by Radio-Frequency Sputtering,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A 6 (5), Sep./Oct. 1988, pp. 2910-2913.
Tyczkowski et al., “Electronic Band Structure of Insulating Hydrogenated Carbon-Germanium Films,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 86, No. 8, Oct. 15, 1999, pp. 4412-4418.
Vetter et al., “IR-Study of a-SiCx:H and a-SiCxny:H Films for c-Si Surface Passivation,” Thin Solid Films vol. 451-452, 2004, pp. 340-344.
Yu et al., “Asymmetric Electron Spin Resonance Signals in Hydrogenated Amorphous Germanium Carbide Films,” Phys. Stat. Sol. (b), 172, 1992, pp. K1-K5.
Herrold et al., “Growth and Properties of Microcrystalline Germanium-Carbide Alloys Grown Using Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Processing,” Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, vol. 270, 2000, pp. 255-259.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Structures including passivated germanium does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Structures including passivated germanium, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Structures including passivated germanium will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2746715