The Influence of Structural Ordering on Luminescence from Nitride- and Oxynitride-Passivated Silicon Nanoclusters

Luminescent silicon nanoclusters have been formed in silicon-rich silicon nitride and silicon-rich silicon oxynitride films grown using inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition. The luminescent properties and electronic structure of the films have been investigated through ultraviolet-excited photoluminescence and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments at the Si K- and L3,2-edges, respectively. In the …