Structural and photoluminescence properties of silicon nanocrystals embedded in SiC matrix prepared by magnetron sputtering

Si nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in an SiC matrix were prepared by the deposition of Si-rich Si1−xCx/SiC nanomultilayer films using magnetron sputtering, subsequently followed by thermal annealing in the range of 800∼1200 °C. As the annealing temperature increases to 1000 °C, Si NCs begin to form and SiC NCs also start to emerge at the annealing temperature of 1200 °C. With the increase of annealing temperature, two photoluminescence (PL) peaks have an obvious redshift. The intensity of the low-energy PL peak around 669∼742 nm gradually lowers, however the intensity of high-energy PL peak around 601∼632 nm enhances. The low-energy PL peak might attribute to dangling bonds in amorphous Si (a-Si) sublayers, and the redshift of this peak might be related to the passivation of Si dangling bonds. Whereas the origin of the high-energy PL peak may be the emergence of Si NCs, the redshift of this peak correlates with the change in the size of Si NCs.