Morphological and optical properties changes in nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si) deposited on porous aluminum nanostructures by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition for Solar energy applications

Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy was used to determine the electrical band gap of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) deposited by plasma enhancement chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on porous alumina structure by fitting the experimental spectra using a model based on the quantum confinement of electrons in Si nanocrystallites having spherical and cylindrical forms. This model permits to correlate the PL spectra to the microstructure of the porous aluminum silicon layer (PASL) structure. The microstructure of aluminum surface layer and nc-Si films was systematically studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that the structure of the nanocrystalline silicon layer (NSL) is dependent of the porosity (void) of the porous alumina layer (PAL) substrate. This structure was performed in two steps, namely the PAL substrate was prepared using sulfuric acid solution attack on an Al foil and then the silicon was deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on it. The optical constants (n and k as a function of wavelength) of the deposited films were obtained using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in the UV-vis-NIR regions. The SE spectrum of the porous aluminum silicon layer (PASL) was modeled as a mixture of void, crystalline silicon and aluminum using the Cauchy model approximation. The specific surface area (SSA) was estimated and was found to decrease linearly when porosity increases. Based on this full characterization, it is demonstrated that the optical characteristics of the films are directly correlated to their micro-structural properties.     

Photoacoustic and photothermal radiometry spectra of implanted Si wafers

The effects of Ar⁺⁸ and O⁺⁶ ion implantation of Si were investigated by photoacoustic (PA) and photothermal radiometry (PTR) methods. The surface of Si sample was treated with Ar⁺⁸ or O⁺⁶ ions with various doses. Amplitude and phase PA spectra of Si with and without ion-implantation were measured and analyzed in the wavelength range from 800 to 1600 nm (the energy range from 0.75 to 1.55 eV) and frequency of modulation, from 1 Hz to 100 kHz.     

Photoacoustic characterization of optical and thermal properties of CdSe quantum dots

We report on the optical absorption properties of as prepared CdSe quantum dots (QDs) measured by the photoacoustic (PA) method. CdSe QDs were fabricated by the chemical solution deposition (CD) technique. With increasing growing time, the redshift of the PA spectra can be clearly observed and optical absorption in the visible region due to CdSe Q-dots is demonstrated. The average diameters of the CdSe QDs for each growth time interval is estimated using the effective mass approximation giving diameters ranging from 2.6 nm to 3.4 nm. These values are comparable to those obtained by scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). Thus, PA spectroscopy is useful to obtain the QDs sizes as grown and with no further preparation. In addition, PA measurements provide also the thermal diffusivity of samples of different sizes which in this case show an increase by at least an order of magnitude than the bulk value.     

Characterization of thermal, optical and carrier transport properties of porous silicon using the photoacoustic technique

In this work, the porous silicon layer was prepared by the electrochemical anodization etching process on n-type and p-type silicon wafers. The formation of the porous layer has been identified by photoluminescence and SEM measurements. The optical absorption, energy gap, carrier transport and thermal properties of n-type and p-type porous silicon layers were investigated by analyzing the experimental data from photoacoustic measurements. The values of thermal diffusivity, energy gap and carrier transport properties have been found to be porosity-dependent. The energy band gap of n-type and p-type porous silicon layers was higher than the energy band gap obtained for silicon substrate (1.11 eV). In the range of porosity (50-76%) of the studies, our results found that the optical band-gap energy of p-type porous silicon (1.80-2.00 eV) was higher than that of the n-type porous silicon layer (1.70-1.86 eV). The thermal diffusivity value of the n-type porous layer was found to be higher than that of the p-type and both were observed to increase linearly with increasing layer porosity.     

Effect of thermal annealing on r.f. sputtering-deposited nanocrystalline GaN<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>As<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> thin films

GaNAs thin films were deposited on Corning glass substrates by radio frequency (r.f.) sputtering in molecular nitrogen ambient. The stoichiometry in the GaNAs alloy was controlled by changing the nitrogen incorporation in the film during the growth process, through the variation of the r.f. power in the range 30–80 watts which produced films with N concentrations in the range: x = 0.85–0.90. The structural and optical properties of the GaNAs thin films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoacoustic (PA) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies. XRD measurements show a broad diffraction band with a peak close to the (002) diffraction line of the GaN hexagonal phase, and a slight shoulder at the position corresponding to the (111) GaAs cubic phase. The PA absorption spectra showed a remarkable shift to higher energies of the absorption edge as the r.f. power decreases corresponding to the films with higher N concentrations. Thermal annealing of the GaNAs films at temperatures of 450 °C produced a GaAs nanocrystalline phase with grain sizes in the range 10–13 nm, as confirmed by the XRD measurements that showed a well-defined peak in the (111) GaAs direction, and also by the PA spectra which showed an absorption band at energies around 1.45 eV due to the quantum confinement effects. PL spectra of thermal-annealed GaNAs films showed a very intense emission at 1.5 eV which we have associated to transitions between the first electron excited level and acceptor states in the GaAs nanocrystallites.     

GaAs/SiO2纳米晶镶嵌薄膜的拉曼光谱与吸收光谱研究

采用射频磁控共溅射与高真空退火相结合的方法,分别在单晶硅片和光学石英玻璃片上制备了ＧａＡｓ／ＳｉＯ２纳米晶镶嵌薄膜样品。激光拉曼光谱的测量结果表明,退火态样品（４００℃,６０ｍｉｎ）的拉曼光谱特征峰呈现宽化和红移,红移量为９．５ｃｍ＾－１,对应薄膜中ＧａＡｓ纳米晶粒平均粒径约为３ｎｍ。样品的室浊吸收光谱测量结果表明,由于受量子限域效应的主导作用,与ＧａＡｓ块状单晶相比,样品光学吸收边呈现出明显的蓝     

Interplay between phonon confinement effect and anharmonicity in silicon nanowires

Getting light out of silicon is a difficult task since the bulk silicon has an indirect energy electronic band gap structure. It is expected that this problem can be circumvented by silicon nanostructuring, since the quantum confinement effect may cause the increase of the silicon band gap and shift the photoluminescence into the visible energy range. The increase in resulting structural disorder also causes the phonon confinement effect, which can be analyzed with a Raman spectroscopy. The large phonon softening and broadening, observed in silicon nanowires, are compared with calculated spectra obtained by taking into account the anharmonicity, which is incorporated through the three and four phonon decay processes into Raman scattering cross-section. This analysis clearly shows that the strong shift and broadening of the Raman peak are dominated by the anharmonic effects originating from the laser heating, while confinement plays a secondary role.     

Photoacoustic spectroscopy of diamond powders and polycrystalline films

Photoacoustic spectroscopy is used to study optical absorption in diamond powders and polycrystalline films. The photoacoustic spectra of diamond powders with crystallite sizes in the range from ∼100 μm to 4 nm and diamond films grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) had a number of general characteristic features corresponding to the fundamental absorption edge for light with photon energies exceeding the width of the diamond band gap (∼5.4 eV) and to absorption in the visible and infrared by crystal-structure defects and the presence of non-diamond carbon. For samples of thin (∼10 μm) diamond films on silicon, the photoacoustic spectra revealed peculiarities associated with absorption in the silicon substrate of light transmitted by the diamond film. The shape of the spectral dependence of the amplitude of the photoacoustic signal in the ultraviolet indicates considerable scattering of light specularly reflected from the randomly distributed faces of the diamond crystallites both in the polycrystalline films and in the powders. The dependence of the shape of the photoacoustic spectra on the light modulation frequency allows one to estimate the thermal conductivity of the diamond films, which turns out to be significantly lower than the thermal conductivity of single-crystal diamond. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1787–1791 (October 1997)     

Structural and optical properties of Mn doped ZnS semiconductor nanostructures

Manganese doped zinc sulphide nanoparticles were fabricated by adopting an inexpensive solution growth route. Different samples were fabricated by varying Mn concentrations. UV-VIS study reveals blue-shift on the onset of absorption and hence enhancement in the optical band gap upto 0.75 eV, indicating strong quantum confinement. Photoluminescene study for all the samples display characteristic band edge peak at ∼410 nm. The broad peak ∼560–580 nm is ascribed to Mn incorporation. Further, structural investigations were carried out by using X-Ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).     

Optical diffuse reflectance spectra of GaSb nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 matrix by radio-frequency magnetron co-sputtering

Nanocrystalline GaSb embedded in SiO₂ films was grown by radio-frequency magnetron co-sputtering. X-ray diffraction pattern and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirm the existence of GaSb nanocrystals in the SiO₂ matrix. The average size of GaSb nanoparticles is in the range of 3 to 11 nm. Diffuse reflectance spectra were used to characterize the small change of the band gap of the semiconductor. The diffuse reflectance spectra shows that the absorption peaks have a large blueshift of about 4.0 eV of the absorption relative to that of bulk GaSb. It has been explained by quantum confinement effects. Room temperature optical transmission spectra show that the absorption edge exhibits a very large blueshift of about 2.1 eV with respect to that of bulk GaSb in agreement with quantum confinement. Received: 28 July 1999 / Accepted: 27 October 1999 / Published online: 1 March 2000     

Synchrotron radiation interference in front of the silicon absorption edge for silicon-on-insulator structures

The synchrotron radiation (SR) interference phenomenon has been for the first time observed in a strained silicon nanolayer deposited on a dielectric SiO₂ layer (∼150 nm) on Si (100) single crystalline substrates (silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures). Strong oscillations of spectra intensity depending on photon energy have been detected in the energy range preceding the elementary silicon Si L _2,3 absorption edge (≤100 eV) at grazing angles of SR smaller than 21° in the X-ray photoeffect quantum yield structure. The phase of the spectra oscillation structure is reversed for small variations of grazing angle in the 4°–21° range. The silicon nanolayer thickness (∼180 nm) has been estimated in the three-layer, Si nanolayer-SiO₂-Si substrate structure with the use of neighbor maxima positions of ultrasoft X-ray radiation interference in XANES (X-ray absorption near edge structure) spectra. A decrease in the crystal lattice parameter of a strained silicon layer along the normal to substrate has been determined by X-ray diffraction. An increase in the Si-Si interatomic distances in the strained silicon nanolayer lattice of SOI structure has been found using ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy data.     

多孔硅蓝光发射与发光机制

在制备出光致发光能量为２．７ｅＶ的发射蓝光多孔硅的基础上对它进行了较系统的研究：测量了它的光致发光时间分辨光谱，用傅里叶交换红外光谱分析了其表面吸附原子的局域振动模，研究了γ射线辐照对其发光的影响，并与发红、黄光的多孔硅作了对比，通过空气中长期存放、激光和紫外线照射的方法，研究了光致发光峰能量为２．７ｅＶ的多孔硅发光稳定性．我们及其它文献中报道的多孔硅蓝光发射的实验结果与量子限制模型矛盾，但能用量子限制／发光中心模型解释．我们认为多孔硅的２．７ｅＶ发光是多孔硅中包裹纳米硅的ＳｉＯ_x层中某种特征发光中心引起的． 关键词：     

Analysis of amorphous-nano-crystalline multilayer structures by optical, photo-deflection and photo-current spectroscopy

Thin film structures consisting of nano-crystalline and amorphous silicon layers deposited on glass by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition have been studied by optical spectroscopy methods (transmittance, photo-thermal deflection spectroscopy and photo-current spectroscopy) while structure was examined by Raman spectroscopy. The nano-crystalline layers were grown on the same amorphous layers, using different radio-frequency (RF) discharge powers, leading to different structural and optical properties. The energy dependence of the absorption coefficient above the band gap agrees well to the bimodal size distribution of crystals and crystal fraction estimated by Raman spectroscopy. For energies below the band gap, the comparison of the absorption of the bi-layer systems with respect to single amorphous layer reveals that the samples produced at higher RF discharge present a higher disorder degree (Urbach edge increases) and higher number of structural defects (absorption related to the defects increases).     

Numerical analysis of the photoacoustic spectra of silicon samples with differently treated surfaces

This paper presents results of the photoacoustic (PA) spectral studies of a series of silicon samples with differently prepared surfaces. The PA amplitude and phase spectra of the samples indicated existence of the damaged surface layers. In the paper the two layer mathematical model of a sample with a damaged surface layer, that was used for numerical interpretation of the amplitude and phase PA spectra of the investigated samples, is presented and discussed. This model comprises the Urbach edge contribution to the optical absorption coefficient spectrum and it enabled observation of its influence on the PA amplitude spectra of silicon samples.     

Study of porous silicon structure by Raman scattering

In this paper, the effect of etching time on light emitting porous silicon has been studied by using Raman scattering. Enhancement of Raman intensity by increasing the porosity is observed. Also there is a red shift, about 4 cm⁻¹, from the Raman peak of crystalline silicon to that of porous silicon. The phonon confinement model suggests the existence of spherical nanocrystalline silicon with diameter around 7 nm. But SEM images show that the samples have a sheetlike structure that confines phonons in one dimension. This should not cause any shift in their Raman spectra. It is suggested that the observed Raman peak shift is due to the spherical nanocrystals on the surface of these sheets.     

镶嵌在氢化氮化硅中纳米非晶硅粒子光吸收的模拟

采用量子限制效应模型对镶嵌有纳米非晶硅粒子的氢化氮化硅薄膜的光吸收进行了理论模拟,探讨了由吸收谱分析给出该结构薄膜光学参数的方法,并通过对不同氮含量样品的讨论给出了量子限制效应和纳米硅粒子表面的结构无序对薄膜光吸收特性的影响规律。分析结果表明,随氮含量的增加,薄膜有效光学带隙增大,该结果与薄膜中纳米硅粒子平均尺寸的减小引起的量子限制效应的增强相关,而小粒度纳米硅粒子比例增加所引入的较高微观结构无序度和较多缺陷将会导致薄膜低能吸收区吸收系数增加。     

非晶Si/SiO2超晶格的制备及其光谱研究

用磁控溅射方法在玻璃基底上制备了非晶Si/SiO₂超晶格.利用透射电子显微镜 (TEM) 和X射线衍射技术对其结构进行了分析,结果表明,超晶格中Si层大部分区域为非晶相,局域微区呈现有序结构,其厚度由1.8—3.2nm变化,SiO₂层厚度为4.0nm.并采用多种光谱测量技术,如吸收光谱、光致发光光谱和Raman光谱技术,对该结构的光学性质进行了系统研究.结果表明,随纳米Si层厚度的减小,光学吸收边以及光致荧光峰发生明显蓝移,Raman峰发生展宽,即观测到明显的量 关键词：     

多孔硅拉曼光谱随激发功率变化的研究

用阳极氧化法新制备了多孔硅样品,以457．5nm固体激光器为激发光源,在不同激发功率下,获得了拉曼谱图和一些谱峰参量随激光功率的变化关系。解释了520cm^-1和300cm^-1附近拉曼峰随功率变化的一系列可逆的实验现象：随激光功率升高出现的红移和非对称性展宽,主要是由于样品局域平均粒径变小而受量子限域效应的影响导致的;样品局域平均粒径在表面上的二维减小与随激光功率升高而导致的局域温升并不违背基本的热力学定律;高功率时520cm^-1附近双峰的出现是由于多孔硅样品局域平均粒径达到一定阈值而导致的纵模和横模双声子模的分裂。     

The absorption band at 1.128 eV of copper phthalocyanine films

We deposited copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) films on (100) silicon wafers by means of a vacuum evaporation method and investigated the absorption characteristics by means of photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy. It was verified that we excluded the PA signal originated in the silicon substrate with the chopping frequency of 200 Hz when the thickness of the CuPc film was 4.4 μm. We then detected an absorption band at 1.128 eV (1.1 μm). This band is possibly related to the charge transfer between Cu atoms and adsorbed oxygen molecules. PACS 78.66.Qn; 78.20.Hp     

Surface and interface electronic properties of AlGaN(0001) epitaxial layers

AlGaN layers with Al content varying over the whole range of compositions were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on n-6H-SiC substrates. The band gap energy is obtained from the vanishing of Fabry–Pérot oscillations in a fit to optical reflection spectra near the band gap absorption edge. The surface potential was determined by in-situ X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and is found to increase as a function of the Al content from (0.5±0.1) eV to (1.3±0.1) eV, from GaN to AlN. A Si₃N₄ thin passivation layer was formed in-situ onto a 2DEG AlGaN/GaN structure. The mechanism underlying the passivation of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures is suggested to be based on the formation of interface states, which keep the Fermi level fixed at a position close to that of the free AlGaN surface. PACS 73.20.-r; 73.40.-c; 73.40.Kp