Photo-electric spectroscopy applied to the barriers between a semiconductor on a metal and an electrolyte was used to study the formation of defects in the near-contact region of GaAs and Si as a result of Pd deposition onto the surface. It was shown that a layer that arose as a result of the chemical interaction between Pd and a semiconductor at 100C, containing defects with deep levels, extended to some 0.4μm deep in GaAs and about 1μm in Si. If one or several strained layers of InGaAs quantum wells were incorporated into the near-contact GaAs region, the defects do virtually not penetrate deeper than the first quantum well. This circumstance makes it possible to reduce the depth of the defect-containing layer. However, the volume concentration of the defects in this layer increased appreciably in this case.

Formation of Defects in GaAs and Si as a Result of Pd Deposition onto the Surface. I.A.Karpovich, S.V.Tikhov, E.L.Shobolov, I.A.Andryushchenko: Semiconductors, 2006, 40[3], 314-8