Structural and Electrical Characterization of Nanostructured a-SiN_x:H PECVD Films

Abstract

In order to correlate the material nano structure with the electrical properties of a-SiNx:H films a set of Si-rich SiNx films and M/I/S capacitors utilizing these films as dielectric layer were produced and characterized. The phase separation in the Si-rich SiNx films was studied by Raman spectroscopy and correlated with the variations in the dielectric permittivity (eox) and the effective charge in the dielectric layer, obtained by the C-V curves. As expected a dielectric permittivity enhancement in consequence of the silicon excess in the films was observed. The variation in the effective charge was correlated to the presence of silicon clusters in the films. The studied materials present high photoluminescence in the visible range and the next step is to investigate the electroluminescence in transparent electrode / SiNx/ Al-Si capacitors.