Annealing temperature effect on the sensitivity of sige nanowire for bio-sensor

Nanowire is widely used in biological sensor because it has the high surface-to-volume ratio. Germanium (Ge) would be beneficial to enhance the sensitivity of silicon nanowire for bio-sensor. In this study, we have successfully fabricated the SiGe on Insulator (SGOI) nanowires with different annealing temperature by side-wall spacer technique, respectively. The 3-amino-propyltrime-thoxy-silane (APTS) is used to modify the surface, which can connect the bio-linker. Nanowire is considered as a resistance, and the change of conductance (ΔG) and sensitivity (S) of different samples corresponding to APTS treatment were investigated. As annealing temperature was elevated from 800 to 950°C, the SiGe nanowire exhibited increasing sensitivity in the chemical detection. However, it was noted that degradation of sensitivity was observed as the annealing temperature increases up to 1000°C. This behavior may be associated with the reduction of the Ge concentration at the surface of SiGe nanowire due to high-temperature diffusion of Ge in Si. So, temperature is a key parameter in the annealing process producing two effects: repairs of defects and Ge diffusion. There would be an optimal annealing temperature between 900 and 1000°C.