Nano Express
In situ-grown hexagonal silicon nanocrystals in silicon carbide-based films
1 Convergence Components and Materials Laboratory, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon 305-700, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Semiconductor Science and Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, 561-756, Republic of Korea
3 Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:634 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-634
Published: 21 November 2012Abstract
Silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) were grown in situ in carbide-based film using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy indicates that these nanocrystallites were embedded in an amorphous silicon carbide-based matrix. Electron diffraction pattern analyses revealed that the crystallites have a hexagonal-wurtzite silicon phase structure. The peak position of the photoluminescence can be controlled within a wavelength of 500 to 650 nm by adjusting the flow rate of the silane gas. We suggest that this phenomenon is attributed to the quantum confinement effect of hexagonal Si-NCs in silicon carbide-based film with a change in the sizes and emission states of the NCs.
