Optical and structural properties of nanocrystalline silicon potential well structure fabricated by cat-chemical vapor deposition at 200 °C

Sin Young Kang, Ki Su Keum, Tae Ho Song, Wan Shick Hong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

We attempted to fabricate multi-layer, thin film structures by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) at a low temperature (200 °C). A 5-10-nm-thick nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) layer was positioned asymmetrically between two silicon nitride (SiNx) layers. The compositions of the SiNx layers were varied between silicon-rich and nitrogen-rich. Each layer was deposited continuously in the Cat-CVD chamber without post-annealing. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed that the nc-Si layer grew in columns on the surface of the bottom SiNx layer, and the columnar structure extended up to a few nanometers of the top SiNx layer. In photoluminescence (PL) spectra, the overall intensity increased with the thickness of the nc-Si layer, but the primary peak position changed more sensitively relative to the composition of the x layers. Capacitance-voltage (C-V ) hysteresis was observed only when 10-nm-thick nc-Si layers were inserted between the nitrogen-rich silicon nitride (NRSN) layers. Under a bias voltage of 5 V, the current in the sample with a 10-nm-thick nc-Si layer was higher by at least two orders of magnitude than that in the sample with a 5-nm-thick nc-Si layer. The I-V curve was fitted well using both the Fowler-Nordheim and the Poole-Frenkel models for electric fields of magnitudes greater than 1.1 MV/cm, thereby implying that both mechanisms contribute to the increase in the leakage current.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7568-7571
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Volume13
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2013

Keywords

  • Cat-CVD
  • Low temperature process
  • Multi-layer structure

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