Layer exchange (LE) is an interesting phenomenon in which metal and semiconductor layers exchange during heat treatment. A great deal of effort has been put into research on the mechanism and applications of LE, which has allowed various group IV materials (Si, SiGe, Ge, GeSn and C) to form on arbitrary substrates using appropriate metal catalysts. Depending on the LE material combination and growth conditions, the resulting semiconductor layer exhibits various features: low-temperature crystallization (80 °C–500 °C), grain size control (nm to mm orders), crystal orientation control to (100) or (111) and high impurity doping (>10 20 cm −3 ). These features are useful for improving the performance, productivity and versatility of various devices, such as solar cells, transistors, thermoelectric generators and rechargeable batteries. We briefly review the findings and achievements from over 20 years of LE studies, including recent progress on device applicati...

中文翻译：

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金属诱导的第IV组材料的交换

层交换（LE）是一种有趣的现象，其中金属和半导体层在热处理过程中发生交换。在LE的机理和应用方面进行了大量的研究，这使得可以使用适当的金属催化剂在任意衬底上形成各种IV类材料（Si，SiGe，Ge，GeSn和C）。取决于LE材料的组合和生长条件，所得的半导体层具有多种特征：低温结晶（80°C–500°C），晶粒尺寸控制（nm至mm量级），晶体取向控制在（100）或（111）和高杂质掺杂（> 10 20 cm -3）。这些功能对于提高各种设备（例如太阳能电池，晶体管，热电发电机和可充电电池）的性能，生产率和多功能性很有用。