The Effects of Deposition and Processing Parameters on the Electronic Structure and Photoluminescence from Nitride-Passivated Silicon Nanoclusters

Silicon nanoclusters (Si-ncs) embedded in silicon nitride films have been studied to determine the effect that deposition and processing parameters have on their growth, luminescent properties, and electronic structure. Luminescence was observed from Si-ncs formed in silicon-rich silicon nitride films with a broad range of compositions and grown using three different chemical vapour deposition (CVD) based systems: plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), …