The Synthesis and Structural Properties of Crystalline Silicon Quantum Dots upon Thermal Annealing of Hydrogenated Amorphous Si-Rich Silicon Carbide Films

Abstract

Silicon quantum dots (QDs) embedded in non-stoichiometric hydrogenated silicon carbide (SiC:H) thin films have been successfully synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and post-annealing. The chemical composition analyses have been carried out by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The bonding configurations have been deduced from Fourier transform infrared absorption measurements (FTIR). The evolution of microstructure with temperature has been characterized by glancing incident x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman diffraction spectroscopy. XPS and FTIR show that it is in Si-rich feature and there are a few hydrogenated silicon clusters in the as-grown sample. XRD and Raman diffraction spectroscopy show that it is in amorphous for the as-grown sample, while crystalline silicon QDs have been synthesized in the 900°C annealed sample. Silicon atoms precipitation from the SiC matrix or silicon phase transition from amorphous SiC is enhanced with annealing temperature increase. The average sizes of silicon QDs are about 5.1 nm and 5.6 nm, the number densities are as high as 1.7 × 1012 cm−2 and 3.2 × 1012 cm−2, and the crystalline volume fractions are about 58.3% and 61.3% for the 900°C and 1050°C annealed samples, respectively. These structural properties analyses provide an understanding about the synthesis of silicon QDs upon thermal annealing for applications in next generation optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices.