A joint team from Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Leibniz Institute has published a major breakthrough in Advanced Materials: the successful preparation of a carbon-silicon-germanium-tin (CSiGeSn) quaternary alloy semiconductor material. For the first time, this achievement stably alloys all four elements of Group IV of the periodic table, bringing revolutionary progress to silicon-based optoelectronic integration and quantum technologies.

Using an industry-grade chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, the research team overcame the enormous size difference between carbon atoms (radius 0.77Å) and tin atoms (radius 1.4Å) as well as bonding-energy barriers through precise control of process parameters. Project leader Dr. Dan Buca stated: "This material perfectly combines tunable bandgap with CMOS process compatibility, far surpassing the performance of pure silicon." Experiments confirmed that the alloy enables continuous bandgap tuning from near-infrared to mid-infrared and has been used to fabricate quantum-well light-emitting diodes that operate at room temperature.

The technology offers three major innovative advantages:

Process compatibility: Fully utilizes existing semiconductor production-line equipment with no special modifications required

Functional expandability: First-ever simultaneous control of photoelectric and thermoelectric conversion on a silicon-based platform

Integration advantage: Quantum structures can be built directly during chip fabrication, breaking through the limitations of traditional heterogeneous integration

The research team has already begun collaboration with industry partners, focusing on developing silicon-based lasers for data-center optical interconnects, self-powered systems for wearable devices, and other applications. Estimates suggest this new material can reduce photonic component manufacturing costs by more than 60% while maintaining full compatibility with existing electronic component processes.