Surface plasmon enhanced photoluminescence in amorphous silicon carbide films by adjusting Ag island film sizes

Ag island films with different sizes are deposited on hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (α-SiC:H) films, and the influences of Ag island films on the optical properties of the α-SiC:H films are investigated. Atomic force microscope images show that Ag nanoislands are formed after Ag coating, and the size of the Ag islands increases with increasing Ag deposition time. The extinction spectra indicate that two resonance absorption peaks which correspond to out-of-plane and in-plane surface plasmon modes of the Ag island films are obtained, and the resonance peak shifts toward longer wavelength with increasing Ag island size. The photoluminescence (PL) enhancement or quenching depends on the size of Ag islands, and PL enhancement by 1.6 times on the main PL band is obtained when the sputtering time is 10 min. Analyses show that the influence of surface plasmons on the PL of α-SiC:H is determined by the competition between the scattering and absorption of Ag islands, and PL enhancement is obtained when scattering is the main interaction between the Ag islands and incident light.     

热退火诱导纳米银膜形貌变化对表面等离激元共振特性的影响

采用磁控溅射技术制备并通过不同温度的快速热退火得到了不同表面形貌的纳米银膜。利用XRD,SEM和紫外-可见-近红外透射光谱等技术研究了纳米银膜的结构、表面形貌与光学性质。实验结果表明,随着退火温度的升高,银膜开口面积分数、银岛(纳米粒子)间距增大,长宽比减小,银岛由各向异性的蠕虫状变成各向同性的纳米球;表面等离激元共振带发生连续的蓝移,半高宽变窄。分析表明,纳米银膜的表面等离激元共振特性可以通过热退火诱导的表面形貌变化实现调整。     

Structural and band tail state photoluminescence properties of amorphous SiC films with different amounts of carbon

Amorphous silicon carbide films are deposited by the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique,and optical emissions from the near-infrared to the visible are obtained.The optical band gap of the films increases from 1.91 eV to 2.92 eV by increasing the carbon content,and the photoluminescence(PL) peak shifts from 1.51 eV to 2.16 eV.The band tail state PL mechanism is confirmed by analysing the optical band gap,PL intensity,the Stocks shift of the PL,and the Urbach energy of the film.The PL decay times of the samples are in the nanosecond scale,and the dependence of the PL lifetime on the emission energy also supports that the optical emission is related to the radiative recombination in the band tail state.     

非晶氧化硅薄膜带尾发光特性

采用等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术,通过改变CO2流量制备了不同氧含量的非晶氧化硅薄膜。利用紫外可见吸收谱、傅里叶红外吸收谱和稳态/瞬态光致发光谱等技术研究了薄膜的微观结构和光学特性。实验结果表明,随着氧含量的增加,薄膜的带隙增大,光致发光强度增加、峰值朝高能方向移动、光谱半峰全宽展宽。时间分辨光谱显示薄膜发光峰值处的衰减时间随氧含量的增加从6.2ns单调增加到21ns,而同一样品的发光寿命随发射波长能量增加而减小。综合分析光学吸收、发射及发光衰减特性表明,薄膜的发光机制主要归结为非晶材料带尾态之间的辐射复合。