H-sensitive radiative recombination path in Si-nanoclusters embedded in SiO2

D. COMEDI; O. H. Y. ZALLOUM; P. MASCHER

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS

AMER INST PHYSICS

Año: 2005 vol. 87 p. 1 - 3

0003-6951

The room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) from silicon nanocrystals embedded in a SiO2 matrix fabricated by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and subsequent annealing in Ar and (Ar+5%H2) was studied. In addition to strong increases of the integrated PL intensity (factors of ~4 to 10), the selective enhancement of contributions to the PL spectra at long wavelengths was observed for (Ar+5%H2) annealings. The selective H passivation of Si dangling bonds in disordered Si nanoclusters where radiative recombination proceeds through disorder-induced shallow states is proposed as a possible explanation for the observed effects.