Despite a renewed interest in Ge as a competitor with Si for a broad range of electronic applications, the microstructure and the electronic properties of the dangling bonds that, in analogy with Si, are expected at the Ge/oxide interface have escaped a firm spectroscopy observation and characterization. Clear evidence based on contactless electrically detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy of a dangling bond at the $\mathrm{Ge}(111)/{\mathrm{GeO}}_2$ interface is reported in this Letter. This result supports the similarity between dangling bonds at the Si(111)/oxide and Ge(111)/oxide interfaces, both showing ${\mathrm{C}}_{3v}$ trigonal point symmetry with the main axis oriented along the $⟨111⟩$ direction. In contrast, at the Ge(001)/oxide interface the absence of the trigonal center in favor of a lower symmetry dangling bond marks the difference with the Si(001)/oxide interface, where both centers are present and the one having higher point symmetry prevails. This fact is rationalized in terms of suboxide interface rearrangement and oxide viscoelasticity, which promote the generation of the nonaxial centers at distorted dimers. The unambiguous identification of the centers at the Ge/oxide interfaces yields a deeper insight into the physical properties of the suboxide interface structure and offers a valid indicator for the evaluation of different surface capping and passivation techniques, with the potential to boost the Ge-related technology.

• Received 21 January 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.206101