We present the evidence of the low defect density at Ge/GeO2 interfaces in terms of first-principles total energy calculations. The energy advantages of the atom emission from the Ge/GeO2 interface to release the stress due to the lattice mismatch are compared with those from the Si/SiO2 interface. The energy advantages of the Ge/GeO2 are found to be smaller than those of the Si/SiO2 because of the high flexibility of the bonding networks in GeO2. Thus, the suppression of the Ge-atom emission during the oxidation process leads to the improved electrical properties of the Ge/GeO2 interfaces.
@article{arxiv.0904.2474,
title = {First-Principles Study for Evidence of Low Interface Defect Density at Ge/GeO$_2$ Interfaces},
author = {Shoichiro Saito and Takuji Hosoi and Heiji Watanabe and Tomoya Ono},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.2474},
year = {2015}
}