Vibrational properties of Ge nanocrystals determined by EXAFS

Abstract

The vibrational properties of Ge nanocrystals (NCs) produced by ion implantation in SiO2 followed by thermal annealing were determined from temperature dependent Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy measurements. Using a correlated anharmonic Einstein model and thermodynamic perturbation theory it was possible to extract information about thermal and static disorder, thermal expansion and anharmonicity effects for the Ge NCs. Comparison with results for bulk crystalline and amorphous Ge indicates that the Ge NCs bonds are stiffer than those of both bulk phases of Ge. Also, the values of the anharmonic linear thermal expansion and the thermal expansion coefficient obtained for the Ge NCs were considerably smaller those for bulk crystalline Ge. Similar trends are reported in the literature for other semiconductor NC systems. They suggest that the increased surface to volume ratio of nanocrystals and the presence of the surrounding SiO2 matrix might be responsible for the different vibrational properties of the nanocrystal phase. Show more