Defect engineering strategies for germanium

摘要

After years of neglect germanium is emerging as a mainstream material for microelectronics applications. This is partially due to the introduction of high-K dielectrics that have allowed the substitution of native oxides. Nevertheless, there are still difficulties concerning the fast diffusion and deactivation of n-type dopants. The aim of this review is to show how density functional theory (DFT) calculations can aid to the understanding of dopant-defect interactions and the design of defect engineering strategies to optimize the properties of doped germanium.