Photoluminescence of Si-rich silicon nitride: Defect-related states and silicon nanoclusters

The photoluminescence (PL) from defect-related states and Si nanoclusters was observed in the Si-rich silicon nitride films simultaneously. The weaker red-light emission of Si nanoclusters was obtained in the 1100°C annealed films with the 514.5nm excitation. Due to the quantum confinement effect, the PL peaks redshift with the increase of the excess Si concentration. Excited by the 325nm line, strong PL from N and Si dangling bond centers was observed in either the as-deposited films or the 1100°C annealed ones. The results demonstrate that the luminescence from defect-related states or Si nanoclusters is selected by the excitation energy.

[1]  Fabio Iacona,et al.  Correlation between luminescence and structural properties of Si nanocrystals , 2000 .

[2]  Philippe M. Fauchet,et al.  The effects of microcrystal size and shape on the one phonon Raman spectra of crystalline semiconductors , 1986 .

[3]  Stephen C. Rand,et al.  Optical properties of silicon nitride films deposited by hot filament chemical vapor deposition , 1995 .

[4]  L. Canham.  Silicon quantum wire array fabrication by electrochemical and chemical dissolution of wafers , 1990 .

[5]  Franklin Chau-Nan Hong,et al.  Visible electroluminescence from silicon nanocrystals embedded in amorphous silicon nitride matrix , 2005 .

[6]  Blue-violet photoluminescence from amorphous Si-in-SiNx thin films with external quantum efficiency in percentages , 2006 .

[7]  H. Miao,et al.  Optical properties of single-crystalline α-Si3N4 nanobelts , 2005 .

[8]  M. Zacharias,et al.  Crystallization of amorphous superlattices in the limit of ultrathin films with oxide interfaces , 2000 .

[9]  P. Pellegrino,et al.  Size dependence of lifetime and absorption cross section of Si nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 , 2003 .

[10]  C. S. Tsai,et al.  Stimulated emission in a nanostructured silicon pn junction diode using current injection , 2004 .

[11]  R. Walters,et al.  Field-effect electroluminescence in silicon nanocrystals , 2005, Nature materials.

[12]  P. Fauchet,et al.  Thermal crystallization of amorphous Si/SiO2 superlattices , 1999 .

[13]  T. Seong,et al.  Quantum confinement in amorphous silicon quantum dots embedded in silicon nitride. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[14]  G. Sung,et al.  High efficiency visible electroluminescence from silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon nitride using a transparent doping layer , 2005 .

[15]  Warren,et al.  First observation of paramagnetic nitrogen dangling-bond centers in silicon nitride. , 1990, Physical review letters.

[16]  L. D. Negro,et al.  Light emission from silicon-rich nitride nanostructures , 2006 .

[17]  Jerzy Kanicki,et al.  Si and N dangling bond creation in silicon nitride thin films , 1993 .

[18]  Y. G. Wang,et al.  High-efficiency visible photoluminescence from amorphous silicon nanoparticles embedded in silicon nitride , 2003 .

[19]  Xide Xie,et al.  Raman shifts in Si nanocrystals , 1996 .

[20]  Effect of nitride passivation on the visible photoluminescence from Si-nanocrystals , 2004 .

[21]  L. D. Negro,et al.  Optical gain in different silicon nanocrystal systems , 2005 .