Isobutylgermane (IBGe,

Chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...

: (CH₃)₂CHCH₂GeH₃, is an

organogermanium compound Organogermanium compounds are organometallic compounds containing a carbon to germanium or hydrogen to germanium chemical bond. Organogermanium chemistry is the corresponding chemical science. Germanium shares group 14 in the periodic table with s ...

. It is a colourless, volatile liquid that is used in

MOVPE Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy (MOVPE), also known as organometallic vapour-phase epitaxy (OMVPE) or metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), is a chemical vapour deposition method used to produce single- or polycrystalline thin films. ...

(

Metalorganic Metal-organic compounds (jargon: metalorganics, metallo-organics) are a class of chemical compounds that contain metals and organic ligands, which confer solubility in organic solvents or volatility. Compounds with these properties find applicatio ...

Vapor Phase

Epitaxy Epitaxy refers to a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations with respect to the crystalline seed layer. The deposited crystalline film is called an epit ...

) as an alternative to

germane Germane is the chemical compound with the formula Ge H4, and the germanium analogue of methane. It is the simplest germanium hydride and one of the most useful compounds of germanium. Like the related compounds silane and methane, germane is ...

. IBGe is used in the deposition of Ge films and Ge-containing thin

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way ...

films such as SiGe in

strained silicon Strained silicon is a layer of silicon in which the silicon atoms are stretched beyond their normal interatomic distance. This can be accomplished by putting the layer of silicon over a substrate of silicon–germanium (). As the atoms in the si ...

application, and

GeSbTe GeSbTe (germanium-antimony-tellurium or GST) is a phase-change material from the group of chalcogenide glasses used in rewritable optical discs and phase-change memory applications. Its recrystallization time is 20 nanoseconds, allowing bitrates of ...

NAND Flash Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

applications.

Properties

IBGe is a non-

pyrophoric A substance is pyrophoric (from grc-gre, πυροφόρος, , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are organolith ...

liquid source for chemical vapor deposition ( CVD) and

atomic layer deposition Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a thin-film deposition technique based on the sequential use of a gas-phase chemical process; it is a subclass of chemical vapour deposition. The majority of ALD reactions use two chemicals called precursors (a ...

(ALD) of

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

. It possesses very high vapor pressure and is considerably less hazardous than germane gas. IBGe also offers lower decomposition temperature (the onset of decomposition at ca. 325-350 °C).,Safer alternative liquid germanium precursors for relaxed graded SiGe layers and strained silicon by MOVPE
D.V. Shenai et al., ''Presentation at ICMOVPE-XIII, Miyazaki, Japan, June 1, 2006'', and publication in ''Journal of Crystal Growth'' (2007) coupled with advantages of low carbon incorporation and reduced main group elemental impurities in epitaxially grown germanium comprising layers such as Ge, SiGe, SiGeC,

, GeSb, and

Uses

Rohm and Haas Rohm and Haas Company is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction, electronic devices, packaging, household and personal care products. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company is organized i ...

(now part of The

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

), IMEM, and

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

have developed a process to grow germanium films on germanium at low temperatures in a Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (

) reactor using isobutylgermane. The research targets Ge/III-V hetero devices.Shenai-Khatkhate et al., Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials; ''Presentation at ACCGE-16, Montana, USA, July 11, 2005'', and publication in ''Journal of Crystal Growth'' (2006) It has been demonstrated that the growth of high quality germanium films at temperatures as low as 350 °C can be achieved.MOVPE growth of homoepitaxial germanium
M. Bosi et al. publication in ''Journal of Crystal Growth'' (2008)Homo and Hetero Epitaxy of Germanium Using Isobutylgermane
G. Attolini et al. publication in ''Thin Solid Films'' (2008) The low growth temperature of 350 °C achievable with this new precursor has eliminated the memory effect of germanium in III-V materials. Recently IBGe is used t

followed by the

deposition of

InGaP Indium gallium phosphide (InGaP), also called gallium indium phosphide (GaInP), is a semiconductor composed of indium, gallium and phosphorus. It is used in high-power and high-frequency electronics because of its superior electron velocity with ...

and InGaAs layers with no memory effect, to enable triple-junction

solar cells A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

and integration of III-V compounds with

Silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...

and

Germanium Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors ...

. It was demonstrated that isobutylgermane could be also used for the growth of germanium

nanowires A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 metres). More generally, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less ...

using gold as catalyst Growth of germanium nanowires with isobuthyl germane
M. Bosi et al. publication in ''Nanotechnology'' (2019)

References

External links

Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, LPN CNRS

IMEM-CNR Institute
Semiconductors Organogermanium compounds Germanium(IV) compounds

Properties

Uses

References

Further reading

External links