MaterialsLetters61(2007)463–465www.elsevier.com/locate/matletPreparationandphotoluminescenceofnanocrystallineSi-richsiliconoxidefilmsbyPECVD⁎GuohuaShi,GangXu,GaorongHanStateKeyLaboratoryofSiliconMaterials,DepartmentofMaterialsScienceandEngineering,ZhejiangUniversity,Hangzhou310027,ChinaReceived18January2006;accepted20April2006Availableonline15May2006AbstractNanocrystallineSi-richsiliconoxidefilmsweredepositedusingplasmaenhancedchemicalvapordepositiontechniquewiththemixtureofsilane(SiH4),nitrousoxide(N2O)andhydrogen(H2)asgassourceonquartzglasssubstrateatthesubstratetemperatureof300°C.TheeffectoftheratioN2O/SiH4ontheoxidation,microstructuresandphotoluminescence(PL)oftheas-depositedSi-richsiliconoxidefilmswasinvestigatedwithFTIR,XRDandHRTEM.TheresultsrevealthatwiththeincreasingratioofN2O/SiH4,moreamountsofoxygenareincorporatedintheas-depositedfilmsandmorenanosizedsiliconparticlesareembeddedinthefilms,formingnanocrystallineSi-richsiliconoxidefilms.ThequantumconfinementeffectorthecooperationofquantumconfinementandluminescencecenterresultsinthenanocrystallineSi-richsiliconoxidefilmsofhigherPLintensity.©2006ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:PECVD;Si-richsiliconoxide;Films;Photoluminescence1.Introductiontechniqueistopermitthefabricationofsilicon-richsiliconoxidefilmatlowtemperature.Inthiswork,theeffectoftheratioofSincethediscoveryofporoussilicon[1],nanostructuredsi-nitrousoxideandsilane(N2O/SiH4)onthemicrostructureandliconhasemergedasamaterialofgreatinterestbecauseitexhibitsphotoluminescenceoftheas-depositedSi-richsiliconoxidefilmsefficientphotoluminescence(PL)andthushaspotentialuseinbyPECVDtechniquewasstudied.Thepresentstudywasper-silicon-basedoptoelectronicdevices.However,theinstabilityofformedbyFouriertransforminfraredspectrometry(FTIR),X-raythismaterialaswellasitsfragilemechanicalproperties[2,3]hasdiffraction(XRD)andhigh-resolutiontransmissionelectronmotivatedthesearchforothersiliconcompoundsexhibitingmicroscope(HRTEM)andthephotolu