ABSTRACTÂ Â Â ÂUsing very-high-frequency (VHF) plasma decomposition of SiH 4 and pulsed gas technique, we have successfully prepared nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) quantum dots having average diameter of 8 nm and dispersion of 1 nm. The role of natural oxide is very important. It controls the size of nc-Si dots. Of particular interest is that the oxidation of these dots can be self limited, due to the stress induced near Si/oxide interface, which would allow further reduction of size and improvement in dispersion. This paper deals with the systematic study of oxidation process of nc-Si dots. Nc-Si dots formed in an Ar plasma with SiH 4 gas pulses are deposited onto a Pt mesh The dots are then oxidized at 750, 800 and 850°C from 20 minutes to 15 hours. The dimensions of the residual nc-Si and the grown oxide are measured directly from the TEM micrographs and analyzed. For comparison, field oxide is investigated using ellipsometry. Retardation in the oxidation rate of nc-Si is observed. The mechanism of the reduction of oxidation rate in nc-Si is discussed taking into account the effect of stress.

We have studied photoluminescence (PL) of surface oxidized nanocrystalline silicon quantum dots (QDs) for various oxidation periods and temperatures. With increasing oxidation period, the surface oxide grows and the Si QD core shrinks initially, then retardation of the oxidation process occurs which is ascribed to compressive stress at the interface between Si QD core and oxide. Upon oxidation, the PL spectrum peak shifts toward the shorter wavelength side followed by retardation of the blueshift or even manifestation of the redshift. The origin of PL is due to the localized excitons at the interface between Si QD core and oxide or amorphous SiO x (a-SiO x ) formed at the interface. The blueshift is associated with the increased quantum confinement or increased bandgap of a-SiO x . The redshift is due to the stress effect of the bandgap of Si QD core or a-SiO x . We have successfully confirmed the effect of compressive stress associated with the self-limiting oxidation by PL measurement.