High-quality eutectic-metal-bonded AlGaAs-GaAs thin films on Si substrates

Abstract

Device quality GaAs-AlGaAs thin films have been obtained on Si substrates, using a novel approach called eutectic-metal-bonding (EMB). This involves the lattice-matched growth of GaAs-AlGaAs thin films on Ge substrates, followed by bonding onto a Si wafer. The Ge substrates are selectively removed by a CF4/O2 plasma etch, leaving high-quality GaAs-AlGaAs thin films on Si substrates. We have obtained a minority-carrier lifetime of 103 ns in a EMB GaAs-AlGaAs double heterostructure on Si, which is nearly forty times higher than the state-of-the-art lifetime for heteroepitaxial GaAs on Si, and represents the largest reported minority-carrier lifetime for a freestanding GaAs thin film. In addition, a negligible residual elastic strain in the EMB GaAs-AlGaAs films has been determined from Raman spectroscopy measurements. Applied Physics Letters is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.