Strong photoluminescence in ammonia plasma treated amorphous-SiC thin films deposited by laser ablation

Abstract

Amorphous-SiC films have been deposited by pulsed laser ablation on silicon substrates. Photoluminescence (PL) studies showed two broad bands with peaks at 1.34 and 1.72 eV for these unhydrogenated films. On NH3 passivation the intensity of the 1.34 eV peak increased by a large factor of 40–50 with full width at half-maximum (FWHM) decreasing to 13.5 meV at 12 K. The activation energy of this level was found to be 24 meV. These results are in contrast with those from unhydrogenated a-Si. A possible mechanism responsible for PL enhancement is discussed.

Electronic structure and bonding properties of Si-doped hydrogenated amorphous carbon films

“…There is an energy sift of ϳ0.6 eV. The first sharp peak at 612 cm -1 and the features in the 700-1000 cm -1 range were assigned to the Si-C͑s͒ stretching mode 8 and Si-C͑s͒, Si-H n ͑s͒, and Si-CH n wagging modes, [9][10][11] respectively. This effect can be clearly seen in the difference spectra between a-C:H:Si ͑B 1 -B 4 ͒ and a-C:H ͑B 0 ͒ presented in the inset of Fig.…”

An experimental investigation of alternative propellants for the helicon double layer thruster

“…For those applications, less ion damage is usually obtained when using an N 2 O plasma rather than a pure O 2 plasma. Similarly, a rf or microwave NH 3 plasma can be used as a dry passivation process of GaAs surfaces [20] or to passivate amorphous SiC thin films for photoluminescence enhancement [21]. In addition, NH 3 plasmas are of great interest in surface functionalization of polymers for biomaterial applications [22,23].…”

Low-Temperature Deposition and Optical Properties of Re-Doped Nanocrystalline SiC Films

“…SiC films deposited by various methods and on different substrates have, therefore, been the subject of extensive studies during the last few years [5][6][7][8]. Chemical and physical properties of the film depend mainly on deposition techniques.…”