Article abstract
Nature Materials 7, 62 - 67 (2008)
Published online: 11 November 2007 | doi:10.1038/nmat2058
Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Superconductors
Controlled nanoscale doping of semiconductors via molecular monolayers
Johnny C. Ho1,2,3, Roie Yerushalmi1,2,3, Zachery A. Jacobson1,2, Zhiyong Fan1,2, Robert L. Alley1 & Ali Javey1,2
Abstract
One of the major challenges towards scaling electronic devices to the nanometre-size regime is attaining controlled doping of semiconductor materials with atomic accuracy, as at such small scales, the various existing technologies suffer from a number of setbacks. Here, we present a novel strategy for controlled, nanoscale doping of semiconductor materials by taking advantage of the crystalline nature of silicon and its rich, self-limiting surface reaction properties. Our method relies on the formation of a highly uniform and covalently bonded monolayer of dopant-containing molecules, which enables deterministic positioning of dopant atoms on the Si surfaces. In a subsequent annealing step, the dopant atoms are diffused into the Si lattice to attain the desired doping profile. We show the versatility of our approach through controlled p- and n-doping of a wide range of semiconductor materials, including ultrathin silicon-on-insulator substrates and nanowires, which are then configured into novel transistor structures.
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence to: Ali Javey1,2 e-mail: ajavey@eecs.berkeley.edu
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