Superconductivity in substitutional Ga-hyperdoped Ge epitaxial thin films

Doping-induced superconductivity in group-IV elements may enable quantum functionalities in material systems accessible with well-established semiconductor technologies. Non-equilibrium hyperdoping of group-III atoms into C, Si or Ge can yield superconductivity; however, its origin is obscured by structural disorder and dopant clustering. Here we report the epitaxial growth of hyperdoped Ga:Ge films and trilayer heterostructures by molecular-beam epitaxy with extreme hole concentrations (nh = 4.15 × 1021 cm−3, 17.9% Ga substitution) that yield superconductivity with a critical temperature of Tc = 3.5 K. Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption and scattering methods reveal that Ga dopants are substitutionally incorporated within the Ge lattice, introducing a tetragonal distortion to the crystal unit cell. Our findings, corroborated by first-principles calculations, suggest that the structural order of Ga dopants creates a narrow band for the emergence of superconductivity in Ge, establishing hyperdoped Ga:Ge as a low-disorder, epitaxial superconductor–semiconductor platform. The epitaxial growth of hyperdoped Ga:Ge films and trilayer heterostructures by molecular-beam epitaxy yield superconductivity with a critical temperature of 3.5 K and may enable quantum functionalities in this material system, which is accessible with well-established semiconductor technologies.