Photocurrent spectroscopy and X-ray microdiffraction study of highly strained germanium nanostructures

Germanium has been highly investigated as a potential light emitting material for the monolithic integration of photonic devices on silicon-based electronics. Indeed, despite the indirect nature of its bandgap, sufficient tensile strain could yield efficient light emission. We present here an experimental study of the influence of tensile strain on the direct bandgap of germanium nanostructures, using both bottom-up and top-down approaches [1].