Annealing and amorphous silicon passivation of porous silicon with blue light emission

The photoluminescence (PL) of the annealed and amorphous silicon passivated porous silicon with blue emission has been investigated. The N-type and P-type porous silicon fabricated by electrochemical etching was annealed in the temperature range of 700-900 °C, and was coated with amorphous silicon formed in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. After annealing, the variation of PL intensity of N-type porous silicon was different from that of P-type porous silicon, depending on their structure. It was also found that during annealing at 900 °C, the coated amorphous silicon crystallized into polycrystalline silicon, which passivated the irradiative centers on the surface of porous silicon so as to increase the intensity of the blue emission.     

储锂硅材料的ESR谱研究

采用了电化学方法制备储锂硅材料,并用电子自旋共振(ESR)方法进行研究. 实验结果表明, 储锂前的硅ESR行为符合居里自旋的ESR特征, ESR信号主要来源于硅材料中的晶格缺陷、 表面悬空键等局域化自旋中心. 储锂后硅材料中产生了泡利自旋,居里自旋的强度比储锂前增大2～3倍. 此外,对硅和储锂硅ESR谱线的g因子和ΔH_pp随温度的变化情况也进行了分析. 硅材料电化学储锂时,与锂离子中和的电子主要参与形成Li-Si共价键,对ESR信号贡献很小.     

Chemical characterisation by WD‐XRF and XRD of silicon carbide‐based grinding tools

This paper addresses the chemical characterisation of silicon carbide‐based grinding tools. These are among the most widely used grinding tools in the ceramic sector, and instruments are required that enable the grinding tool quality to be controlled, despite the considerable complexity involved in determining grinding tool chemical composition. They contain components of quite different nature, ranging from the silicon carbide abrasive to the resin binder. To develop the analysis method, grinding tools containing silicon carbide with different grain sizes were selected from different tile polishing stages. To develop the grinding tool characterisation method, the different measurement process steps were studied, from sample preparation, in which different milling methods (each appropriate for the relevant type of test) were used, to the optimisation of the determination of grinding tool components by spectroscopic and elemental analyses. For each technique, different particle sizes were used according to their needs. For elemental analysis, a sample below 150 µm was used, while for the rest of the determinations a sample below 60 µm was used. After milling, the crystalline phases were characterised by X‐ray powder diffraction and quantified using the Rietvel method. The different forms of carbon (organic carbon from the resin, inorganic carbon from the carbonates and carbon from the silicon carbide) were analysed using a series of elemental analyses. The other elements (Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Ti, Mn, P and Cl) were determined by wavelength‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry, preparing the sample in the form of pressed pellets and fused beads. The chemical characterisation method developed was validated with mixtures of reference materials, as there are no reference materials of grinding tools available. This method can be used for quality control of silicon carbide‐based grinding tools. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of the temperature on the photoluminescence of silicon clusters embedded in a silicon oxide matrix

Amorphous silicon oxide thin films were prepared by co-evaporation of Si and SiO in ultra-high vacuum. Different compositions were obtained by changing the evaporation rate of silicon. After thermal annealing treatments, the dissociation of the silicon oxide in pure silicon and silicon dioxide leads to the formation of silicon clusters embedded in a silicon oxide matrix. Thus the samples were annealed to different temperatures up to 950°C. Depending on the annealing temperature and on the composition, different cluster sizes were obtained. The photoluminescence (PL) energy depends on the cluster size and a large range of wavelengths is obtained from 500 to 750 nm. The PL, attributed to a confinement effect of the electron–hole pairs in the silicon particles, is studied as a function of the temperature. It is demonstrated that the continuous decrease of PL intensity with the temperature from 77 to 500 K depends on the structure of the samples. For samples with well-separated clusters, the PL decreases rapidly with the temperature. For samples containing clusters separated by a small distance, the PL weakly depends on the temperature. No shift of the energy is observed. The results are discussed by taking into account the competition between the radiative recombination in the silicon clusters and the non-radiative escape of the carriers via a hopping mechanism.     

Rapid joule heating of metal films used to crystallize silicon films

We analyzed the rapid heating properties of 50-nm-thick silicon films via 250-nm-thick SiO₂ intermediate layers by heat diffusion from joule heating induced by electrical current flow in chromium strips. Numerical heat-flow simulation resulted in that the silicon films were heated to the melting point by a joule-heating intensity above 1 MW/cm². A marked increase in electrical conductance associated with silicon melting was experimentally detected. Taper-shaped chromium strips detected the temperature gradient in the lateral direction caused by the spatial distribution of the joule-heating intensity. Crystallization occurred according to the temperature gradient. A 2–4-μm lateral crystalline grain growth was demonstrated for the silicon films. Received: 20 November 2001 / Accepted: 22 November 2001 / Published online: 20 March 2002     

Luminescence centers in porous silicon

Photoluminescence studies on porous silicon show that there are luminescence centers present in the surface states. By taking photoluminescence spectra of porous silicon with respect to temperature, a distinct peak can be observed in the temperature range 100–150 K. Both linear and nonlinear relationships were observed between excitation laser power and the photoluminescence intensity within this temperature range. In addition, there was a tendency for the photoluminescence peak to red shift at low temperature as well as at low excitation power. This is interpreted as indicating that the lower energy transition becomes dominant at low temperature and excitation power. The presence of these luminescence centers can be explained in terms of porous silicon as a mixture of silicon clusters and wires in which quantum confinement along with surface passivation would cause a mixing of andX band structure between the surface states and the bulk. This mixing would allow the formation of luminescence centers.     

Analytical prediction for depth of subsurface damage in silicon wafer due to self-rotating grinding process

Subsurface damage (SSD) induced by silicon wafer grinding process is an unavoidable problem in semiconductor manufacturing. Although experimental attempts have been made on investigation of the influential factors on the SSD depth, however, few theoretical studies have been conducted to obtain SSD depth through grinding parameters. To fill the gap, an analytical model is developed to predict the SSD depth in silicon wafer due to self-rotating grinding process, which can reveal the relationship among SSD depth and the grinding parameters, the size of the abrasive grains and the radial distance from the wafer center. The establishment of the proposed model is based on scratch theory and fracture mechanics of isotropic brittle materials, and we further consider the effects of elastic recovery, cleavage plane and crystalline orientation on SSD formation. To validate the applicability of the proposed predictive model, grinding experiments with varied grinding parameters are performed and the depths of SSD along the <110> and <100> crystal directions are also measured and analyzed. The results given by the proposed model present reasonable accuracy of less than 20% deviation with experimental results. Effects of grinding parameters, wafer radial distance, crystalline orientation, and abrasive grain size on SSD depth are discussed in detail.     

Stoichiometric changes in the surface of (100) cubic SiC caused by ion bombardment and annealing

The (100) surface of cubic silicon carbide has been studied by Auger electron spectroscopy as a function of in-situ annealing in ultra-high vacuum. The line-shape fine structures for both the silicon and carbon Auger transitions which were destroyed by ion bombardment were readily recovered by a brief heat treatment at about 600°C. Further heating above about 1000°C monotonically decreased the Si/C ratio with increasing temperature. Comparison of the changes in the silicon and carbon Auger peak heights with the intensity for the Ar peak from imbedded argon shows that this decrease in Si/C ratio was caused by silicon depletion rather than by carbon accumulation on the surface. A systematic study of the changes in the silicon and carbon Auger peak heights as a function of time and temperature showed that the depletion occured with an activation energy of about 120 kcal/mole (5.2 eV/atom). The carbon Auger line shape indicates that as the silicon was desorbed, the carbon bonding eventually changed from carbidic to graphitic.     

室温下掺Er富硅氧化硅和掺Er富硅氮化硅的光致发光及其退火

用磁控溅射淀积掺Er氧化硅、掺Er富硅氧化硅、掺Er氮化硅和掺Er富硅氮化硅薄膜,室温下测量这四种薄膜的光致发光（PL）谱,观察到这四种薄膜都具有1.54μm的峰位,其强度与薄膜的退火温度有关。为了确定1.54μmPL的最佳退火温度,这些薄膜都分别在600,700,800,900,1000,1100℃的温度下同时退火,发现两种富硅薄膜的最佳退火温度是800℃,不富硅的两种薄膜的最佳退火温度是900℃。样品的1.54μmPL最强,且800℃退火的掺Er富硅氧化硅薄膜的1.54μm峰强度是最强的,比不富硅的强了约20倍,还观察到这四种薄膜都具有1.38μm的PL带,且掺Er富硅氧化硅和掺Er富硅氮化硅这两种薄膜的PL在强度上1.38μm峰与1.54μm峰有一定的关系。     

AlGaInP-Si glue bonded high performance light emitting diodes

We propose a new method of using conductive glue to agglutinate GaAs based AlGaInP light emitting diodes (LEDs) onto silicon substrate,and the absorbing GaAs layer is subsequently removed by grinding and selective wet etching.It was found that AlGaInP-Si glue agglutinated LEDs have larger saturation current and luminous intensity than the conventional LEDs working at the same injected current.The luminous intensity of the new device is as much as 1007.4 mcd at a saturation current of 125 mA without being encapsulated,while the conventional LEDs only have 266.2 mcd at a saturation current of 105 mA.The luminescence intensity is also found to increase by about 3.2% after working at 50 mA for 768 h.This means that the new structured LEDs have good reliability performance.     

All-fibre optical system for exciting and detecting the vibration of silicon microresonator sensors

An all-fibre optical system for optical interrogation and detection of the vibrations of a silicon microresonator is reported. Metal-coated silicon microresonators are excited by intensity modulated laser light delivered through an optical fibre, while the vibration of the resonators is detected by an optical fibre interferometer. Measurements have shown that an average optical power of 10 μW is sufficient to maintain the flexural vibration of the resonator. When the resonator is used as a pressure sensor, its resonant frequency changes from 62 kHz to 130 kHz as the pressure varies from -0°6 bar to 1 bar (gauge). A silicon resonator with 700 nm aluminium coating functions as a temperature sensor, showing a frequency shift from 262 kHz to 251 kHz when the temperature changes from 25 °C to 80 °C.     

镶嵌在氧化硅薄膜中纳米晶硅的可见光荧光谱与发光机制的研究

采用对非晶氧化硅薄膜退火处理方法，获得纳米晶硅与氧化硅的镶嵌结构．室温下观察到峰位为2.40eV光致发光．系统地研究了不同退火温度对薄膜的Raman谱、光荧光谱及光电子谱的影响．结果表明，荧光谱可分成两个不随温度变化的峰位为1.86和2.30eV的发光带．Si2p能级光电子谱表明与发光强度一样Si⁴⁺强度随退火温度增加而增加．Si平均晶粒大小为4.1—8.0nm，不能用量子限制模型解释蓝绿光的发射．纳米晶硅与SiO₂界面或SiO₂中与氧有关的缺陷可能是蓝绿光发射的主要原因 关键词：     

Study on structural properties of epitaxial silicon films on annealed double layer porous silicon

In this paper, epitaxial silicon films were grown on annealed double layer porous silicon by LPCVD. The evolvement of the double layer porous silicon before and after thermal annealing was investigated by scanning electron microscope. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate the structural properties of the epitaxial silicon thin films grown at different temperature and different pressure. The results show that the surface of the low-porosity layer becomes smooth and there are just few silicon-bridges connecting the porous layer and the substrate wafer. The qualities of the epitaxial silicon thin films become better along with increasing deposition temperature. All of the Raman peaks of silicon films with different deposition pressure are situated at 521 cm⁻¹ under the deposition temperature of 1100 °C, and the Raman intensity of the silicon film deposited at 100 Pa is much closer to that of the monocrystalline silicon wafer. The epitaxial silicon films are all (4 0 0)-oriented and (4 0 0) peak of silicon film deposited at 100 Pa is more symmetric.     

1.5μm LUMINESCENCE CHARACTERISTIC OF ERBIUM IN B, P DOPED a-SiO:H FILMS

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films co-doped with oxygen (O), boron (B) and phosphorus (P) were fabricated using PECVD technique. The erbium (Er) implanted samples were annealed in a N₂ ambient by rapid thermal annealing. Strong photoluminescence (PL) spectra of these samples were observed at room temperature. The incorporation of O, B and P could not only enhance the PL intensity but also the thermal annealing temperature of the strongest PL intensity. It seems that the incorporation of B or P can decrease the grain boundary potential barriers thus leading to an easier movement of carriers and a stronger PL intensity. Temperature dependence of PL indicated the thermal quenching of Er-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon is very weak.     

纳米硅结构薄膜光致发光的温度依赖特性

综合考虑纳米硅结构薄膜的特殊性质,如量子限制效应、光学带隙和光跃迁振子强度对纳米硅粒径的依赖特性以及光学带隙和光辐射的温度依赖特性等,给出了一个解析表达式来分析具有一定粒径分布的纳米硅结构薄膜的光致发光(PL)强度分布,其中选取了两种纳米硅的粒径分布,即高斯分布和对数正态分布。结果表明,随着平均粒径和粒径分布偏差的减小,纳米硅薄膜的PL谱峰蓝移。随着环境温度的升高,纳米硅结构薄膜的PL谱峰红移且相对发光强度减弱。纳米硅结构薄膜光辐射拟合的结果与实验数据的比较分析表明,该模型能够很好地解释纳米硅结构薄膜在不同温度下的PL特性。     

Measurement of dense plasma temperature of the shock-compressed silicon

Measurements of the brightness temperature and compressibility of a dense silicon plasma formed by powerful shock waves (SWs) passing through a single-crystal sample have been carried out. Plane SWs were created using an explosive technique: the traditional plane acceleration of a steel driver plate made it possible to obtain pressures in silicon up to 133 GPa, and the use of “Mach” cumulative generators realized the pressures up to 510 GPa. The shock Hugoniot of silicon was determined by the impedance matching with α-quartz as the reference. The intensity of emitted thermal radiation was measured in the infrared range λ ∼ 1.5 μm, where silicon is optically transparent, and in the visible range of the spectrum. A significant (up to five times) understatement of the measured values of the brightness temperature in comparison with the values calculated by the equation of state was found. Taking into account the reflective properties of the SW in silicon does not lead to an agreement with the experiment. The estimates of relaxation processes behind the shock front suggest the presence of a zone of the establishment of ionization equilibrium with a width of ∼10 μm.     

Luminescence of porous silicon films with an europium-containing complex

We obtained porous silicon films modified at room temperature by an Eu³⁺-containing polymer complex. The most intense photoluminescence of Eu³⁺ implanted in the porous silicon was observed at the wavelengths of 611, 618, 691, and 704 nm. In this case, the intensity of the intrinsic photoluminescence of strongly irradiated specimens of porous silicon decreased, while the intensity of weakly emitting films multiply increased. An investigation of the photoexcitation spectra made it possible to establish the effect of Eu³⁺-containing complexes on the mechanism underlying the excitation of photoluminescence of porous silicon. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 499–501, July–August, 1997.     

Relative enhancement of photoluminescence intensity of passivated silicon nanocrystals in silicon dioxide matrix

Photoluminescence (PL) intensity of passivated silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) embeded in an SiO₂ matrix is compared with that of unpassivated ones. We investigate the relative enhancement of PL intensity (I_R) as a function of annealing temperature and implanted Si ion dose. The I_R increases simultaneously with the annealing temperature. This demonstrates an increase in the number of dangling bonds (DBs) with the degree of Si crystallization via varying the annealing temperature. The increase in I_R with implanted Si ion dose is also observed. We believe that the near-field interaction between DBs and neighboring Si NCs is an additional factor that reduces the PL efficiency of unpassivated Si NCs.     

脉冲光纤激光修锐青铜金刚石砂轮等离子体特性研究

采用光栅光谱仪 对脉冲光纤激光修锐青铜金刚石砂轮过程中产生的等离子体空间分辨发射光谱进行了测量. 研究了500–600 nm波段范围内的等离子体空间发射光谱强度随激光平均功率和脉冲重复频率的变化情况. 结果表明: 等离子体辐射光谱强度在其径向膨胀方向上距离砂轮表面约2.4 mm处达到最大值. 在局部热力学平衡假设条件下, 根据等离子体中六条铜原子谱线的相对强度, 利用Boltzmann 图法, 计算得到在不同激光功率和重复频 率条件下的等离子体电子温度沿砂轮径向方向的分布规律. 实验结果表明: 在激光修锐青铜金刚石砂轮过程中, 距离砂轮表面约3 mm处等离子体电子温度出现峰值, 其温度最高可达4380 K, 且等离子体电子温度随着激光参数和 空间位置的改变呈现出不同的演变规律. 关键词： 脉冲光纤激光 等离子体发射光谱 激光修锐 电子温度     

侧吹气体对光纤激光修锐青铜金刚石砂轮等离子体特性影响

为了研究辅助侧吹氩气对光纤激光修锐青铜结合剂金刚石砂轮等离子体的影响,利用高速摄像机拍摄不同侧吹工艺参数下等离子体空间膨胀形态,结果表明：氩气降低了等离子体的膨胀高度,随着压力增加,等离子体的膨胀距离减小,等离子抑制作用增强。 利用光谱仪研究了等离子体发射光谱在砂轮径向上的最大值随氩气压力的变化情况,并根据Boltzmann斜线法和Stark展宽法,计算不同氩气压力下等离子体在砂轮径向上电子温度和电子数密度的最大值,结果表明：气体压力增大,等离子体光谱线强度先增大后减小,等离子体光谱线强度在0.2 MPa时达到峰值,较大的氩气压力明显降低等离子体电子温度和电子数密度,从而减小对砂轮表面形貌的影响。 利用超景深三维扫描仪观测添加侧吹气体前后砂轮表面形貌,结果表明：0.5 MPa侧吹氩气后,砂轮表面形貌质量明显优于未添加侧吹气体时。