Cor Claeys – författare

Germanium is a semiconductor material that formed the basis for the development of transistor technology. Although the breakthrough of planar technology and integrated circuits put silicon in the foreground, in recent years there has been a renewed interest in germanium, which has been triggered by its strong potential for deep submicron (sub 45 nm) technologies. Germanium-Based technologies: From Materials to Devices is the first book to provide a broad, in-depth coverage of the field, including recent advances in Ge-technology and the fundamentals in material science, device physics and semiconductor processing. The contributing authors are international experts with a world-wide recognition and involved in the leading research in the field.

The book also covers applications and the use of Ge for optoelectronics, detectors and solar cells. An ideal reference work for students and scientists working in the field of physics of semiconductor devices and materials, as well as for engineers in research centres and industry. Both the newcomer and the expert should benefit from this unique book.

Following their first observation in 1984, random telegraph signals (RTS) were initially a purely scientific tool to study fundamental aspects of defects in semiconductor devices. As semiconductor devices move to the nanoscale however, RTS have become an issue of major concern to the semiconductor industry, both in the development of current technology, such as memory devices and logic circuits, as well as in future semiconductor devices beyond the silicon roadmap, such as nanowire, TFET and carbon nanotube-based devices.

It has become clear that the reliability of state-of-the-art and future CMOS technology nodes is dominated by RTS and single-trap phenomena, and so its understanding is of vital importance for the modelling and simulation of the operation and the expected lifetime of CMOS devices and circuits. It is the aim of this book to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of one of the most challenging issues facing the semiconductor industry, from the fundamentals of RTS to applied technology.

The aim is to give an overview of the physics of extended defects in Germanium, i.e. dislocations (line defects), grain boundaries, stacking faults, twins and {311} defects (two-dimensional defects) and precipitates, bubbles, etc. The first part covers fundamentals, describing the crystallographic structure and other physical and electrical properties, mainly of dislocations. Since dislocations are essential for the plastic deformation of Germanium, methods for analysis and imaging of dislocations and to evaluate their structure are described. Attention is given to the electrical and optical properties, which are important for devices made in dislocated Ge. The second part treats the creation of extended defects during wafer and device processing. Issues are addressed such as defect formation during ion implantation, necessary to create junctions, which are an essential part in every device type. Extended defects are also created during the deposition of thin or thick epitaxial layers on other substrates, which are important for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. In brief, the book is intended to provide a fundamental understanding of the extended-defect formation during Ge materials and device processing, providing ways to distinguish harmful from less detrimental defects and should point out ways for defect engineering and control.