Electrical switching properties of nanostructured multilayer superlattice Ge–Si…Cu…Si–Ge prepared by electron beam evaporation on glass

In this study, the fabrication of nanostructured multilayer superlattice Ge–Si…Cu…Si–Ge using electron beam evaporation on glass substrates at a temperature of 200 °C has been reported. The structural, optical and electrical characteristics of such films were then studied by means of DC polarization, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and UV–visible spectroscopic techniques. The XRD pattern obtained showed an amorphous state along with some reflected XRD signals from the Ge planes while there were no reflected signals from the Si and Cu layers. The average estimated grain size diameter (Dav.)(Dav.) is 30.13 nm as found from the XRD experiment using the Debye–Scherrer equation. The grain size as estimated from the AFM images was found to be within 28–31 nm, which is in good agreement with the XRD average value. RBS analysis confirmed the multilayer structure of the superlattice. The optical allowed indirect band gap of the superlattice obtained from the Tauc plot was found to be 1.19 eV, which is greater than that of bulk Ge semiconductor (0.66 eV). This fact indicates that the incorporation of a Cu layer instead of the Ge layer enables us to change the indirect to direct transitions in Ge/Si devices. Current density–voltage (JJ–VV) characteristics of the nanodevice showed an electrical switching effect (VCNR) with the largest ON/OFF current ratio of the order of 10 6 at 15 V.