We present a new ''templated self-organization'' method for the preparation of Ge nanocrystals in SiO"2 that combines a bottom-up with a top-down approach for nanostructuring. Ge nanocrystals are formed by self-organization induced by thermal annealing of thin Ge films embedded in SiO"2 whose areas are predefined by nanoimprint patterning. Thus much smaller structure sizes can be achieved than by pure nanostructuring and much more regular structures can be prepared than by pure self-organization. In particular, the method enables the generation of Ge nanocrystals of equal size at predefined vertical and lateral positions thus facilitating the fabrication of nanoscaled devices due to the suppression of structural fluctuations.
['Robby Peibst', 'T. Dürkop', 'E. Bugiel', 'N. Koo', 'T. Mollenhauer', 'Max C. Lemme', 'H. Kurz', 'K. R. Hofmann']
PECVD grown Ge nanocrystals embedded in SiO2: From disordered to templated self-organization