Photocurrent and Photoluminescence of Amorphous Silicon Nanoclusters Embedded in Silicon Suboxide Matrix

Abstract

We have presented a technique, based on magnetron sputtering of silicon target in the mixture of argon, silane, and oxygen. Addition of oxygen gas was shown to cause formation of silicon suboxide layers with amorphous silicon nanoclusters without subsequent annealing. The layers exhibit significant photoluminescence at room temperature. Their photoluminescence spectra reveal special features predicted in the preceding well-known theoretical works. Heterostructures, fabricated with such layers, show high photocurrent efficiency in short-wavelength spectral region. Our results demonstrate that the investigated structures are promising for photoelectric and photovoltaic applications.