Silicon Nanocrystal Nucleation as a Function of the Annealing Temperature in SiOx Films

Si nanocrystals (Si-nc) embedded in amorphous silica matrix have been obtained by thermal annealing of substoichiometric SiO x films, deposited by PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition) technique with different amount of Si concentrations (42 and 46 at.%). Both nucleation and evolution of Si-nc together with the changes of the amorphous matrix have been studied as a function of the annealing temperature. The comparison of x-ray absorption measurements in Total Electron Yield (TEY) mode at the Si k-edge with photoluminescence (PL), FTIR and Raman spectra, allowed clarifying the processes of Si-nc formation and structural evolution as a function of the annealing temperature and Si content