Ellipsometry studies of Si/Ge superlattices with embedded Ge dots

In this paper, we present an analysis for treating the spectroscopic ellipsometry response of Si/Ge superlattices (SLs) with embedded Ge dots. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurement at room temperature was used to investigate optical and electronic properties of Si/Ge SLs which were grown on silicon (Si) wafers having 〈111〉 crystallographic orientation. The results of the SE analysis between 200 nm and 1000 nm indicate that the SL system can effectively be described using an interdiffusion/intermixing model by assuming multicrystalline Si and Si_1?x Ge _x intermixing layers. The electronic transitions deduced from the analysis reveal Si-, Ge- and alloying-related critical energy points.     

Defect‐band photoluminescence imaging on multi‐crystalline silicon wafers

Defect‐band emission photoluminescence (PL) imaging with an indium‐gallium‐arsenide (InGaAs) camera was applied to multi‐crystalline silicon (mc‐Si) wafers, which were taken from different heights of different Si bricks. Neighboring wafers were picked at six different processing steps, from as‐cut to post‐metallization. By using different cut‐off filters, we were able to separate the band‐to‐band emission images from the defect‐band emission images. On the defect‐band emission images, the bright regions that originate from extend‐ ed defects were extracted from the PL images. The area fraction percentage of these regions at various processing stages shows a correlation with the final cell electrical parameters. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Blue photo- and electroluminescence of silicon dioxide layers ion-implanted with group IV elements

The microstructural, optical and electrical properties of Si-, Ge- and Sn-implanted silicon dioxide layers were investigated. It was found, that these layers exhibit strong photoluminescence (PL) around 2.7 eV (Si) and between 3 and 3.2 eV (Ge, Sn) at room temperature (RT), which is accompanied by an UV emission around 4.3 eV. This PL is compared with that of Ar-implanted silicon dioxide and that of Si- and Ge-rich oxide made by rf magnetron sputtering. Based on PL and PL excitation (PLE) spectra we tentatively interpret the blue–violet PL as due to a T₁→S₀ transition of the neutral oxygen vacancy typical for Si-rich SiO₂ and similar Ge- or Sn-related defects in Ge- and Sn-implanted silicon dioxide. The differences between Si, Ge and Sn will be explained by means of the heavy atom effect. For Ge-implanted silicon dioxide layers a strong electroluminescence (EL) well visible with the naked eye and with a power efficiency up to 5×10^-4 was achieved. The EL spectrum correlates very well with the PL one. Whereas the EL intensity shows a linear dependence on the injection current over three orders of magnitude, the shape of the EL spectrum remains unchanged. The I-V dependence exhibiting the typical behavior of Fowler–Nordheim tunneling shows an increase of the breakdown voltage and the tunnel current in comparison to the unimplanted material. Finally, the suitability of Ge-implanted silicon dioxide layers for optoelectronic applications is briefly discussed. Received: 9 March 2000 / Published online: 30 June 2000     

Rare Earth Photoluminescence in Bismuth-Germanate Crystals

In the present work, the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of bismuth germanate (BGO) doped with trivalent rare earth element (REE) ions with different doping concentrations (0.03 wt% Eu, 0.4 wt% Tm, and 1.1 wt% Nd) are reported in the temperature range from 10 to 300 K using different detectors, namely, photomultiplier tube (PMT), InGaAs (IGA), and Si. The luminescence in the NIR region was also measured at room temperature. Two broad emission bands attributed to undoped BGO were found at circa 1350 and 1800 nm, respectively. The broad-band emissions are replaced by narrow-band line emissions defined by the trivalent rare earth dopants. The emission spectra from rare earth ion–doped BGO extend from 500 to 2000 nm. Rare earth ions act as the dominant recombination centers and define the emission spectra. This is interpreted as resulting from direct charge transfer from intrinsic defect traps to rare earth recombination centers. The temperature-dependent luminescence of BGO doped with 0.4 wt% Tm is also presented.     

Optical properties of silicon nanoparticles synthesized via electrical spark discharge in water

In this paper, we report a simple and low-cost technique for fabrication of silicon nanoparticles via electrical spark discharge between two plane silicon electrodes immersed in deionized water (DI). The pulsed spark discharge with the peak current of 60 A and a duration of a single discharge pulse of 60 μs was used in our experiment. The structure, morphology, and average size of the resulting nanoparticles were characterized by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM images illustrated nearly spherical and isolated Si nanoparticles with diameters in the 3–8 nm range. The Raman peaks of the samples were shifted to the lower wave numbers in comparison to this of bulk crystalline silicon indicating the existence of tiny particles. The optical absorption spectrum of the nanoparticles was measured in the violet–visible (UV–Vis) spectral region. By measuring of the band gap we could estimate the average size of the prepared particles. The silicon nanoparticles synthesized exhibited a photoluminescence (PL) band in the violet-blue region with a double peak at around 417 and 439 nm. It can be attributed to oxide-related defects on the surface of silicon nanoparticles, which can act as the radiative centers for the electron-hole pair recombination.     

Mechanisms of dislocation generation in Si structures with strained layers: Intrinsic point defects in dislocation nucleation

The peculiarities of dislocation production in silicon compositions with elastically strained layers fabricated by the molecular-beam epitaxy technique (SiGe/Si heterostructures) and by direct bonding of Si(110)/Si(100) wafers are studied with transmission electron microscopy. The role of intrinsic point defects during the process of nucleation of misfit dislocations is explained. The surplus concentration of these defects in heterostructures was produced via low-temperature epitaxial growth of buffer layers or with ion implantation of elastically strained heterostructures. The model of “optimal” and “inverse” intrinsic point defects providing an explanation for the relaxation of misfit strains in heterostructures is proposed.     

Effects of substrate on surface morphology, crystallinity, and photoluminescence properties of sputtered ZnO nano films

Effects of substrate on crystallinity, surface morphology, and luminescence properties of radio frequency sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were investigated. A variety of materials such as Si (100), Si (111), Al₂O₃, quartz, and silicon carbide (SiC) wafers were examined as substrates for deposition of ZnO thin films. The results showed smooth and uniform growth of c-axis orientation films. The thickness of the layers was about 50 nm. The average grain sizes of films were about 10, 13, and 12 nm for Si (111), quartz, and SiC samples, respectively. The deposited film on Al₂O₃ showed the largest grain size, about 500 nm. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction patterns of the samples revealed that sputtered layers on Al₂O₃ and quartz had better crystallinity with higher peak at (002) orientation compared to Si and SiC substrates. Moreover, the Al₂O₃ sample exhibited a weak peak at position of (100) planes of ZnO too. The photoluminescence spectra of the samples showed a typical luminescence behavior with a broad UV band, including a main peak at around 388 nm and a weak shoulder peak at around 381 nm, corresponding with bound excitonic recombination and free excitonic recombination, respectively. The luminescence peak revealed that the intensity of UV emission is not necessarily dependent on the grain sizes and the micro-structural quality of ZnO films.     

The effect of Al and B on the luminescent property of porous silicon

In this paper, we studied the PL property and the surface morphology of porous silicon prepared from N-type single silicon wafers coated with and without Al film. By introducing the Al film on the surface of silicon wafer before etching, the morphology of porous silicon exhibits obvious discrimination compared with that of the conventional porous silicon, which can be explained by the formation mechanism of the samples, and the emission property of two-type porous silicon also showed the clear difference, which may be attributed to the discrepancy in the structural configuration of the samples. Furthermore, it was found that the blue emission decreased and the green emission was almost completely quenched after boron-particle deposition, which is attributed to the structural change or annihilation of the emission defects during annealing process.     

The origin of photoluminescence in Ge-implanted SiO2 layers

Ge ions were implanted at 100 keV with 3×10¹⁶ cm⁻² into a 300  nm thick SiO₂ layer on Si. Visible photoluminescence (PL) around 2.1 eV from an as-implanted sample is observed, and faded out by subsequent annealing at 900°C for 2 h. However, PL shows up again after annealing above 900°C at the same peak position. Compared with the as-implanted sample, significant increase of Ge–Ge bonds is measured in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the formation of Ge nanocrystals with a diameter of 5 nm are observed in transmission electron microscopy from the sample annealed at 1100°C. We conclude that the PL peak from the sample annealed above 900°C is caused by the quantum confinement effects from Ge nanocrystals, while the luminescence from the as-implanted sample is due to some radiative defects formed by Ge implantation.     

Visible photoluminescence of co-sputtered Ge–Si duplex nanocrystals

The photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of co-sputtered Ge–Si duplex nanocrystal films were examined under excitation by a 325-nm HeCd laser, combined with Raman and Fourier-transform infrared reflection spectra analysis. A broad visible PL spectrum from the as-deposited Ge–Si nanocrystal films was observed in the wavelength range 350–700 nm. Basically, the PL spectrum can be considered to consist of two distinct parts originating from different emission mechanisms: (i) the spectrum in the range 350–520 nm, consisting of characteristic double peaks at 410 and 440 nm with PL intensities decreasing after vacuum annealing, probably due to vacancy defects in Si nanocrystals; and (ii) the spectrum in the range 520–700 nm, consisting of a characteristic peak at 550 nm with a PL intensity not affected by vacuum annealing, probably due to Ge-related interfacial defects. No size dependence of PL peak energy expected from quantum confinement effects was observed in the wavelength range investigated. However, with an increase of crystal size, the PL peak intensity in the blue zone decreased. The PL intensity is found to be strongly affected by silicon concentration. A film heated in air has a different PL mechanism from the as-deposited and vacuum-annealed films. PACS 78.67.Bf; 81.05.Cy; 81.15.Cd     

高k栅介质应变Si SOI MOSFET的阈值电压解析模型

在结合应变Si,高k栅和SOI结构三者的优点的基础上,提出了一种新型的高k栅介质应变Si全耗尽SOI MOSFET结构.通过求解二维泊松方程建立了该新结构的二维阈值电压模型,在该模型中考虑了影响阈值电压的主要参数.分析了阈值电压与弛豫层中的Ge组分、应变Si层厚度的关系.研究结果表明阈值电压随弛豫层中Ge组分的提高和应变Si层的厚度增加而降低.此外,还分析了阈值电压与高k栅介质的介电常数和应变Si层的掺杂浓度的关系.研究结果表明阈值电压随高k介质的介 关键词： 应变Si k栅')" href="#">高k栅 短沟道效应 漏致势垒降低     

Flow pattern defects in germanium-doped Czochralski silicon crystals

The distribution and etching rate of flow pattern defects (FPDs) in germanium- doped Czochralski (GCZ) silicon (Si) wafers with light and heavy dopants—either boron (B) or phosphorus (P)—have been investigated. In the lightly doped (both B and P) Czochralski (CZ) Si crystals, the FPD densities in GCZ Si decrease with the increase of Ge concentration. In the heavily B-doped GCZ Si crystals, the FPDs are denser compared with the heavily B-doped CZ Si, whereas the reverse is true in the heavily P-doped GCZ Si and CZ Si crystals. It is also shown that the etching rates in the lightly doped CZ Si crystals can be slightly enlarged by the Ge doping. It is proposed that, in lightly doped GCZ Si, Ge doping could consume free vacancies and thus form high-density but small-sized voids, while the stress compensation induced by B and Ge atoms could increase the vacancy concentration in heavily B-doped GCZ Si, leading to sparse and large-sized voids.     

Effects of gas pressure on the synthesis and photoluminescence properties of Si nanowires in VHF-PECVD method

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were grown on an Au-coated Si(111) substrate at various gas pressures by very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition via the vapor–liquid–solid mechanism. The synthesized SiNWs were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The SiNWs were sharp needle-shaped and possessed highly crystalline core and oxide amorphous shell. As the gas pressure increases from 70 mtorr to 85 mtorr, the average diameter of the SiNWs decreases from 250 nm to 70 nm. Furthermore, the density of the nanowires increases with the gas pressure. The PL spectra revealed a peak at about 400 nm and a broadband emission at about 700 nm.     

High-density-plasma (HDP)-CVD oxide to thermal oxide wafer bonding for strained silicon layer transfer applications

Direct wafer bonding between high-density-plasma chemical vapour deposited (HDP-CVD) oxide and thermal oxide (TO) has been investigated. HDP-CVD oxides, about 230 nm in thickness, were deposited on Si(0 0 1) control wafers and the wafers of interest that contain a thin strained silicon (sSi) layer on a so-called virtual substrate that is composed of relaxed SiGe (∼4 μm thick) on Si(0 0 1) wafers. The surfaces of the as-deposited HDP-CVD oxides on the Si control wafers were smooth with a root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of <1 nm, which is sufficiently smooth for direct wafer bonding. The surfaces of the sSi/SiGe/Si(0 0 1) substrates show an RMS roughness of >2 nm. After HDP-CVD oxide deposition on the sSi/SiGe/Si substrates, the RMS roughness of the oxide surfaces was also found to be the same, i.e., >2 nm. To use these wafers for direct bonding the RMS roughness had to be reduced below 1 nm, which was carried out using a chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP) step. After bonding the HDP-CVD oxides to thermally oxidized handle wafers, the bonded interfaces were mostly bubble- and void-free for the silicon control and the sSi/SiGe/Si(0 0 1) wafers. The bonded wafer pairs were then annealed at higher temperatures up to 800 °C and the bonded interfaces were still found to be almost bubble- and void-free. Thus, HDP-CVD oxide is quite suitable for direct wafer bonding and layer transfer of ultrathin sSi layers on oxidized Si wafers for the fabrication of novel sSOI substrates.     

Optical properties of silicon microcolumn grown by nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation

We have investigated the optical properties of silicon pillars formed by cumulative nanosecond pulsed excimer laser irradiation of single-crystal silicon in vacuum created under different repetition rates. The changes in optical characteristics of silicon pillar were systematically determined and compared as the number of KrF laser shots was increased from 1 to 15,000.The results show that silicon pillar PL curves exhibit a blue band around 430 nm and an ultraviolet band peaking at 370 nm with the vanishing of the green emission at 530 nm. A correlation between the intensity of the blue PL band and the intensity of the Si-O absorption bands has been exploited to explain such emission, whereas, the origin of the ultraviolet band may be attributed to different types of defects in silicon oxide.     

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering of tantalum double perovskite structures

In this paper, we investigated the electronic structures and defect states of SrLaMgTaO₆ (SLMTO) double perovskite structures by using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering. Recently, Eu³⁺ doped SLMTO red phosphors have been vigorously investigated due to their higher red emission efficiency compared to commercial white light emitting diodes (W-LED). However, a comprehensive understanding on the electronic structures and defect states of host SLMTO compounds, which are specifically related to the W-LED and photoluminescence (PL), is far from complete. Here, we found that the PL spectra of SLMTO powder compounds sintered at a higher temperature, 1400 °C, were weaker in the blue emission regions (at around 400 nm) and became enhanced in near infrared (NIR) regions compared to those sintered at 1200 °C. To elucidate the difference of the PL spectra, we performed resonant inelastic x-ray spectroscopy (RIXS) at Ta L-edge. Our RIXS result implies that the microscopic origin of different PL spectra is not relevant to the Ta-related defects and oxygen vacancies.     

硅衬底阳极氧化铝膜的荧光发射研究

报道了用电子束蒸发技术在硅守底上沉积，并于１５ｗｔ％Ｈ２ＳＯ４，温度２５℃和４０Ｖ直流电压条件下阳极氧化铝薄的制备（膜厚约４００ｎｍ）。研究了该阳极氧化铝膜的红外吸收光谱（ＦＴＩＲ）、光致荧光光谱（ＰＬ）和荧光激发光谱（ＰＬＥ）。发现其荧光光谱在２８０￣５００ｎｍ范围内由三个主发射带组成，其峰值分别位于３１２ｎｍ，３６７ｎｍ和４４９ｎｍ。所有这三个ＰＬ带，经分析都与阳极氧化铝膜中的氧化铝膜中的氧空     

Formation of InAs quantum dots in silicon by sequential ion implantation and flash lamp annealing

InAs quantum dots (QDs) were successfully formed in single-crystalline Si by sequential ion implantation and subsequent milliseconds range flash lamp annealing (FLA). Samples were characterized by μ-Raman spectroscopy, Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and low temperature photoluminescence (PL). The Raman spectrum shows two peaks at 215 and 235 cm^?1 corresponding to the transverse optical (TO) and longitudinal optical (LO) InAs phonon modes, respectively. The PL band at around 1.3 μm originates from the InAs QDs with an average diameter 7.5±0.5 nm and corresponds to the increased band gap energy due to the strong quantum confinement size effect. The FLA of 20 ms is sufficient for InAs QDs formation. It also prevents the out-diffusion of implanted elements. Moreover, the silicon layer amorphized during ion implantation is recrystallized by solid-phase epitaxial regrowth during FLA.     

Optical Analysis of Nanocrystalline ZnO Films Coated on Porous Silicon by Radio Frequency (RF) Magnetron Sputtering

Zinc oxide thin films have been deposited onto porous silicon (PSi) substrates at high growth rates by radio frequency (RF) sputtering using a ZnO target. The advantages of the porous Si template are economical and it provides a rigid structural material. Porous silicon is applied as an intermediate layer between silicon and ZnO films and it contributed a large area composed of an array of voids. The nanoporous silicon samples were adapted by photo electrochemical (PEC) etching technique on n-type silicon wafer with (111) and (100) orientation. Micro-Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy are powerful and non-destructive optical tools to study vibrational and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures. Both the Raman and PL measurements were also operated at room temperature. Micro-Raman results showed that the A₁(LO) of hexagonal ZnO/Si(111) and ZnO/Si(100) have been observed at around 522 and 530 cm^–1, re- spectively. PL spectra peaks are distinctly apparent at 366 and 368 cm^–1 for ZnO film grown on porous Si(111) and Si(100) substrates, respectively. The peak luminescence energy in nanocrystalline ZnO on porous silicon is blue-shifted with regard to that in bulk ZnO (381 nm). The Raman and PL spectra pointed to oxygen vacancies or Zn interstitials which are responsible for the green emission in the nanocrystalline ZnO.     

Structural and optical features of nanoporous silicon prepared by electrochemical anodic etching

Nanoporous silicon (NPS) samples were prepared by electrochemical anodic etching of p-type (0 0 1) silicon wafers in HF solution, and some of them were aged in air. The nanostructural, optical and chemical features of the NPS were investigated in terms of etching and aging conditions. The surface of the porous Si exhibits an etched layer with a thickness of 30–40 nm; this layer appears to consist of aggregates of 5–10 nm size nano-crystallites. The NPS exhibited broad photoluminescence (PL) spectra with its peak in the red light region (740 nm). After aging the porous samples for 4 weeks in air, we observed the PL intensity became approximately a fifth of that of the as-prepared one, along with a blue shift. It is very likely that the blue shift of the PL peak was caused by the shrinkage of the Si nano-crystallites due to the oxidation in the surface of the nano-crystallites.