Effect of rapid thermal annealing on Si rich SiO2 films prepared using atom beam sputtering technique

✍ Scribed by Trupti N. Warang; D. Kabiraj; D.K. Avasthi; K.P. Jain; K.U. Joshi; A.M. Narsale; D.C. Kothari

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 444 KB
• Volume: 203
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0257-8972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2009.02.059

✦ Synopsis

We report here the synthesis of silicon-nanoclusters embedded in SiO 2 by atom beam co-sputtering technique. A sputtering target consisted of 40% and 60% area of Si pieces glued on a fused silica plate. A cosputtered film containing Si embedded in SiO 2 having different compositional fractions of Si was deposited on fused silica and c-Si substrates. Annealing was done in N 2 atmosphere for 1 min at temperatures ranging from 700-900 °C to precipitate silicon nanoclusters. Samples were characterized using Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. In IR absorption spectra, the blue shift of the Si-O-Si asymmetric stretching band, from 1017 cm -1 for as-deposited samples, to 1070 cm -1 for samples annealed at 900 °C, indicates that phase separation of Si and SiO 2 has been completed and films consist of Si particles embedded in an SiO 2 matrix. Raman spectrum showed the emergence of 513 cm -1 due to nanocrystalline silicon after RTA at 900 °C.