Energy band alignment of atomic layer deposited HfO2 on epitaxial (110)Ge grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The band alignment properties of atomic layer HfO2 film deposited on epitaxial (110)Ge, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy exhibited a sharp interface between the (110)Ge epilayer and the HfO2 film. The measured valence band offset value of HfO2 relative to (110)Ge was 2.28 +/- 0.05 eV. The extracted conduction band offset value was 2.66 +/- 0.1 eV using the bandgaps of HfO2 of 5.61 eV and Ge bandgap of 0.67 eV. These band offset parameters and the interface chemical properties of HfO2/(110)Ge system are of tremendous importance for the design of future high hole mobility and low-power Ge-based metal-oxide transistor devices. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794838]