Composition and optical properties of amorphous a-Si[O.sub.x]: H films with silicon nanoclusters

• Published in: Semiconductors (Woodbury, N.Y.) p. 212
• Main Authors: Terekhov, V.A, Terukov, E.I, Undalov, Yu. K, Parinova, E.V, Spirin, D.E, Seredin, P.V, Minakov, D.A, Domashevskaya, E.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 01-02-2016
• Subjects: Analysis; Optical properties; Photoluminescence; Silicon
• ISSN: 1063-7826
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063782616020251

The phase composition and optical properties of hydrogenated amorphous films of silicon suboxide (a-Si[O.sub.x]:H) with silicon nanoclusters are studied. Ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy show that silicon- suboxide films with various oxidation states and various amorphous silicon-cluster contents can be grown using dc discharge modulation. In films with an ncl-Si content of ~50%, the optical-absorption edge is observed, whose extrapolation yields an optical band gap estimate of ~3.2-3.3 eV. In the visible region, rather intense photoluminescence bands are observed, whose peak positions indicate the formation of silicon nanoclusters 2.5-4.7 nm in size in these films, depending on the film composition. DOI: 10.1134/S1063782616020251