The synthesis and structural characterization of boron-doped silicon-nanocrystals withenhanced electroconductivity

Abstract

Boron (B)-doped silicon-nanocrystals (Si-NCs) with wavelength-tunable photoluminescence(PL) properties in the visible region are successfully prepared for the first time, leading tosignificant enhancement of electroconductivities. The B-doped Si-NCs are prepared on ap-type Si(100) substrate by co-deposition of p-type Si(100) chips/boron chips/silicadisk targets. As the number of the B chips used as the target is increased, theamount of doped B content increases gradually. Here the amount of doped Bcontent in the Si-NCs is controlled from 0 to 0.4, 0.7, 2.3 at.%. The B elementalstates, compositional ratios, and surface condition of the obtained Si-NCs are fullycharacterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) observations,micro-Raman scattering spectroscopic analysis, etc. Our B-doped Si-NCs possessboth the continuous luminescence property in the visible region and enhancedelectroconductivity. The red-shift of the PL peak is confirmed by the increase of theamount of doped B content. This paper should be very important from the viewpointof application to optoelectronic devices and electroluminescent (EL) displays.