Enhancement of the Silicon Nanocrystals’ Electronic Structure within a Silicon Carbide Matrix

Soni Prayogi

doi:10.22146/ijc.79864

Enhancement of the Silicon Nanocrystals’ Electronic Structure within a Silicon Carbide Matrix

https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.79864

Soni Prayogi^(1*)

(1) Department of Electrical Engineering, Pertamina University, Jl. Teuku Nyak Arief, Jakarta 12220, Indonesia; Electronics Research Center, National Innovation Research Agency, Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 8, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

Using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a mixed gas of silane (SiH₄) and methane (CH₄) was diluted with hydrogen (H₂) to produce thin films of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon carbide (SiC) matrix. This method prevents the co-deposition of SiH and SiC from high-temperature annealing procedures. This study experimentally explores the improvement of the electronic structure by adjusting two processing parameters according to classical nucleation theory (ratio of SiH₄ to CH₄ and working gas pressure). The deposited films were examined using ellipsometry spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and photoluminescence to determine grain size, crystal volume fraction, topography, and bond configurations. The results show that increasing the working gas pressure can increase the density of SiC, while increasing the ratio of SiH₄ to CH₄ can only produce larger grain sizes. This is consistent with how SiC works and grows. Without using a high-temperature annealing procedure, this technique can improve the electrical structure of SiC contained in the SiC matrix formed by PECVD.

Keywords

methane; silane; hydrogen; silicon carbide; PECVD

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.79864