Efficient coupling to integrated high-quality-factor cavities is crucial for the employment of germanium quantum dot (QD) emitters in future monolithic silicon-based optoelectronic platforms. We report on strongly enhanced emission from single Ge QDs into L3 photonic crystal resonator (PCR) modes based on precise positioning of these dots at the maximum of the respective mode field energy density. Perfect site control of Ge QDs grown on prepatterned silicon-on-insulator substrates was exploited to fabricate in one processing run almost 300 PCRs containing single QDs in systematically varying positions within the cavities. Extensive photoluminescence studies on this cavity chip enable a direct evaluation of the position-dependent coupling efficiency between single dots and selected cavity modes. The experimental results demonstrate the great potential of the approach allowing CMOS-compatible parallel fabrication of arrays of spatially matched dot/cavity systems for group-IV-based data transfer or quantum optical systems in the telecom regime.

For the prototypical Ge/Si(001) system, we show that at high growth temperature a new type of Stranski-Krastanow islands is formed with side facets steeper than {111} and high aspect ratio. Nano-goniometric analysis of the island shapes reveals the presence of six new facet groups in addition to those previously found for dome or barn-shaped islands. Due to the highly multi-faceted island shape and high aspect ratio, the new island types are named "cupola" islands and their steepest {12 5 3} side facet is inclined by 68°to the substrate surface. Assessing the relative stability of the new facets from surface area analysis, we find that their stability is similar to that of {113} and {15 3 23} facets of dome islands. The comparison of the different island shapes shows that they form a hierarchical class of geometrical structures, in which the lower aspect ratio islands of barns, domes and pyramids are directly derived from the cupola islands by successive truncation of the pedestal bases without facet rearrangements. The results underline the key role of surface faceting in the process of island formation, which is as crucial for understanding the island's growth evolution as it is important for device applications.

The Stranski–Krastanow growth of SiGe islands by deposition of SiGe alloys instead of pure Ge allows us to control both the Ge concentration and gradient in the islands. In contrast to the commonly found increasing Ge content with island height, growth conditions for islands with nearly constant and even decreasing Ge profile along the growth direction were found. Atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution x-ray diffraction were employed to determine the islands' size, shape, lateral distance and Ge composition. Efficient photoluminescence is emitted from these islands. We show that for islands with higher Ge contents at the bottom than at the apex, transitions between heavy holes and electron Δ_xy states in the compressive Si regions around the island's circumference dominate the photoluminescence spectra instead of the usually observed recombination between heavy holes and electrons in the Δ_z valleys in the tensile Si above the island's apex. The relative importance of the Δ_xy transitions is enhanced for lateral island distances less than 10 nm, where overlapping strain fields of neighbouring islands increase the compressive strain in the Si region between them. At intense photoexcitation, recombinations between electrons in the Δ_z valleys and light holes within the islands appear in the photoluminescence spectra. These so far, for SiGe islands, unobserved transitions were identified by a quantitative modelling of the band structure within the islands and in the surrounding Si matrix based on full 3D simulations using the nextnano³ package with the experimentally obtained island shape and composition as input parameters.

The peak positions in photoluminescence spectra of Ge wetting layers (WL) deposited at $700°\text{C}$ were measured versus the Ge coverage with an extremely high relative resolution of 0.025 monolayers. A nearly linear redshift of the peaks with increasing Ge coverage is observed. We derived quantitative WL composition profiles by fitting this shift, and its dependence on the deposition temperature of the capping layer $\left(T_c\right)$ , to results of band structure calculations. Despite the high growth temperature, the Ge content in the WL exceeds 80%. It is shown that the composition profile is dominated by surface segregation of Ge on Si.

A detailed study of the so far unexplored Ge island nucleation on Si (001) substrates patterned with {111} faceted pyramidal pits is reported. The pits are defined by an anisotropic wet-chemical etch through a SiN_x hard mask. Due to the self-limiting of the wet etch, an extremely uniform pit pattern is achieved. On these substrates, Ge layers were grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy at various growth temperatures T_Ge. For T_Ge=550 °C, Ge fills the pits in the form of inverted {111} pyramids with a rounded apex and a (001)-oriented top surface. These islands have aspect ratios much larger than upright pyramids and domes that are usually obtained on substrates with cylindrical pits fabricated by lithographic techniques and reactive ion etching. Based on the experimentally determined shape, three-dimensional (3D) energy level calculations in an envelop function approach have been performed for the inverted pyramids. They show that, due to the orientation of the pyramid square base along 110 directions, the overlap between the hole ground states and electron states confined to the Si conduction band valleys perpendicular to the growth direction is much larger than for upright SiGe domes and {105} pyramids. For elevated growth temperatures around 700 °C, already a Ge coverage of five monolayers induces a strong Si transfer into the {111} pits, effectively converting them towards {1 1 10} faceted ones.