We report a new \{001\} planar defect found in SiGe nanopillars. The defect structure, determined by atomic resolution electron microscopy, matches the Humble defect model proposed for diamond. We also investigated several possible variants of the Humble structure using first principles calculations and found that the one lowest in energy was also in best agreement with the STEM images. The pillar composition has been analyzed with electron energy loss spectroscopy, which hints at how the defect is formed. Our results show that the structure and formation process of defects in nanostructured group IV semiconductors can be different from their bulk counterparts.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2111.04145,
title = {Humble planar defects in SiGe nanopillars},
author = {Hongbin Yang and Shang Ren and Sobhit Singh and Emily M. Turner and Kevin S. Jones and Philip E. Batson and David Vanderbilt and Eric Garfunkel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.04145},
year = {2022}
}