Significant Resistance Reduction in Modulation-Doped Silicon Nanowires via Aluminum-Induced Acceptor States in SiO₂

Silicon nanowires (Si NWs) like structures in the form of nanosheets are the building blocks for future transistors in the most advanced complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technologies. However, Si NWs with few nanometers in diameter suffer from severe difficulties with respect to efficient impurity doping. These difficulties can be overcome by a novel doping concept for Si NWs comparable to the modulation doping approach known from III–V semiconductors. Modulation doping means that the parent dopant atoms are spatially separated from the volume that is to be doped by embedding them into an adjacent material with a higher bandgap. Herein, Al-doped SiO₂ shells around the Si NWs are used for the experimental realization of modulation doping. In two independent experiments, a significant reduction of the electrical resistance of Si NWs by several orders of magnitude is measured, when compared to the resistance of Si NWs with undoped SiO₂ shells. The results are discussed in the context of modulation doping by the surface functionalization with SiO₂:Al shells.