EXAFS sheds light on short-range ordering in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">G</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">e</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>1</mml:mn><mml:mo>−</mml:mo><mml

The local arrangement of atoms in an alloy impacts its electronic band structure and, consequently, its fundamental physical properties. This work investigates the short-range order of tin atoms in binary <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:mrow><a:mi mathvariant="normal">G</a:mi><a:msub><a:mi mathvariant="normal">e</a:mi><a:mrow><a:mn>1</a:mn><a:mo>−</a:mo><a:mi>x</a:mi></a:mrow></a:msub><a:mi mathvariant="normal">S</a:mi><a:msub><a:mi mathvariant="normal">n</a:mi><a:mi>x</a:mi></a:msub></a:mrow></a:math> semiconductors epitaxially grown on Ge-buffered Si (001) substrates. Samples featuring Sn content up to 13 at.% were analyzed by x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy at the Sn-K edge. The study reveals how the growth method and its process parameters, like temperature, or the epitaxial built-up strain affect the local atomic ordering of tin within the alloys. While the deposition technique seems to have a marginal effect on the Sn short-range ordering, the growth temperature and Sn content systematically influence the bonding angles Sn. Ge-Sn next neighbor coordination shells, whereas the interatomic distances remain largely unaffected. In the first coordination shell Sn-Ge are strongly favored over Sn-Sn, while the opposite happens in the next coordination shell, where Sn-Sn are systematically favored. These insights into the relationship of growth condition and layer properties enable to identify the nature of the large variety of electronic and optical properties measured in <f:math xmlns:f="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><f:mrow><f:mi mathvariant="normal">G</f:mi><f:msub><f:mi mathvariant="normal">e</f:mi><f:mrow><f:mn>1</f:mn><f:mo>−</f:mo><f:mi>x</f:mi></f:mrow></f:msub><f:mi mathvariant="normal">S</f:mi><f:msub><f:mi mathvariant="normal">n</f:mi><f:mi>x</f:mi></f:msub></f:mrow></f:math> layers.