Low temperature growth of Germanium buffer films by ion beam sputter process

Low temperature (≤450°C) ion beam deposition was employed to grow polycrystalline Germanium (Ge) films on Si (100) crystal, polymer film, and glass. The effects of deposition temperatures and energies of sputtered atoms on the crystal quality of Ge films were studied. XRD characterization of the material showed that at above 300°C, Ge films had a phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline structure. Samples deposited at 1000eV beam energy had the best crystallinity Successful results have been achieved by growing up to 600 nm thick poly-Ge film layers at 450°C substrate temperature on plastic and glass substrates.