III-V compound semiconductors integrated with silicon for functional photronic devices

The further downsizing of CMOS devices below 16 nm will need to solve some of the practical limits caused by one of the integration issues, such as chip performance, cost of development and production, power dissipation, reliability, etc. One solution for such a performance progress is the integration of different functional optoelectronic elements within one chip.
Recently we demonstrated a compact, CMOS compatible and fully integrated solution for the integration of III-V semiconductor nanocrystals with silicon technology for optoelectronic applications. They are synthesized in silicon using combined ion beam implantation and millisecond flash lamp annealing (FLA) techniques [NanoLett. 11, 2814 (2011)]. FLA appears to be the most suitable technique for this purpose. The energy budget introduced to the sample during FLA is sufficient to recrystallize silicon amorphized during the ion implantation and to form III-V nanocrystals (NCs) via the liquid phase. In this talk we will present results of the microstructural, optical and electrical properties of III-V quantum dots (InAs, GaAs and InP) formed in silicon. Conventional selective etching was used to form the n-III-V/p-Si heterojunction. Current-voltage measurements confirm the heterojunction diode formation between n-type III-V quantum dots and p-type Si. The main advantage of our method is its integration with large-scale silicon technology, which also allows applying it for Si-based photronic devices.