Estimation of Silicon Nanocrystalline Sizes from Photoluminescence Measurements of RF Co-Sputtered Si/SiO₂ Films.

Abstract

A stochastic distribution of nanocrystalline sizes model is applied to fit photoluminescence (PL) spectra of luminescent Si nanocrystals in a Si/SiO 2 matrix synthesized by RF co-sputtering on the top of quartz substrates. With this method, the PL spectra from a diverse set of samples can be resolved mainly as the sum of two components: a contribution from a gaussian-like distribution of sizes of quantum dots (QD) and a similar component from a distribution of quantum wires (QW). These distributions of sizes and their associated PL energies agree well with the so-called Smart Quantum Confinement model (SQC).

Nanostructure size determination in p‐type porous silicon by the use of transmission electron diffraction image processing

“…The mean diameter obtained for the spherical nanostructures is found to be 4.3 nm with a standard deviation of 1.3 nm. These values are in complete agreement with previous studies on porous silicon [2,3,10,11,16], and also on nanocrystalline silicon sputtered compounds [15] using different methodologies. In refs.…”

“…In sputtered silicon (ref. [15]) where a similar analytic methodology of photoluminescence was also applied, the diameter of nanocrystalline structures was found to lie between 2 and 3 nm, and therefore it represents one further independent test on the nanostructure diameters. The results are consequently a support for the so-called quantum confinement model which explains photoluminescence in PS.…”