Applied
Surface
Science
258 (2011) 1733–
1737
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Applied
Surface
Science
j
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ate/apsusc
Decay
processes
of
photoluminescence
in
a
nanocrystalline
SiC
thin
film
Wei
Yu
∗
, Xinzhan
Wang, Chunling
Geng, Xueqin
Lve, Wanbing
Lu,
Guangsheng
Fu
College
of
Physics
Science
and
Technology,
Hebei
University,
Baoding
071002,
China
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
i
n
f
o
Article
history:
Received
25
January
2011
Received
in
revised
form
30
September
2011
Accepted
7
October
2011
Available online 14 October 2011
Keywords:
Nanocrystalline
silicon
carbide
Time-resolved
photoluminescence
Quantum
confinement
effect
a
b
s
t
r
a
c
t
Nanocrystalline
(nc)-SiC
film
has
been
deposited
by
helicon
wave
plasma
enhanced
chemical
vapor
depo-
sition
technique
and
intense
blue-white
light
emission
is
obtained.
Microstructure
analyses
show
that
the
3C–SiC
particles
are
embed
in
amorphous
SiC
matrix,
and
the
average
size
of
the
nc-SiC
is
3.96
nm.
The
photon
energy
of
the
main
photoluminescence
(PL)
band
is
higher
than
the
band
gap
of
bulk
SiC,
which
indicates
that
the
optical
emission
mainly
occurs
in
quantum
states
of
3C–SiC
nanocrystals.
In
addition,
the
band
tail
states
of
amorphous
SiC
also
contribute
to
the
optical
emission.
Three
decay
processes
are
obtained
from
time-resolved
PL
spectra
by
deconvolution
treatment,
and
the
decay
com-
ponents
correspond
to
the
quantum
confinement
effect
(QCE),
surface
states
of
nc-SiC
particles,
and
band
tail
of
amorphous
SiC,
respectively.
The
fractional
integrated
PL
intensity
of
QCE
related
decay
process
decreases
dramatically
in
the
lower
PL
photon
energy,
indicating
that
the
QCE
mainly
contributes
to
the
short
wavelength
optical
emission.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1.
Introduction
Due
to
the
wide
band
gap
property,
silicon
carbide
(SiC)
has
been
becoming
a
promising
candidate
for
short
wavelength
light
emitters,
detecting
devices,
and
biosensors
[1–3].
Many
investiga-
tors
have
focused
their
attention
on
the
preparation
and
optical
properties
of
SiC
material.
They
believe
that
the
optical
emission
at
short
wavelength
can
be
achieved
through
a
combination
of
the
wide
band
gap
property
and
quantum
confinement
effect
(QCE)
of
nanocrystalline
SiC
(nc-SiC)
[4,5].
So
far,
various
SiC
nanostructures
such
as
thin
films,
powders,
and
solutions
have
been
prepared
and
effective
light
emissions
have
been
observed
[6–8].
However,
due
to
the
intricate
compound
properties
and
surface
defects,
the
optical
emission
mechanism
of
nc-SiC
film
is
complicated.
The
photolumi-
nescence
(PL)
centers
beyond
550
nm
or
at
a
fixed
wavelength
have
been
observed
in
many
SiC
structures,
and
they
are
mainly
related
to
the
surface
states
of
nanocrystals
or
defect
centers
of
amorphous
phase
[9–11].
On
the
other
hand,
the
PL
spectra
depending
on
the
crystal
size
of
nc-SiC
have
also
been
obtained,
and
the
QCE
is
iden-
tified
by
experiment
[4].
However,
there
is
little
information
on
the
PL
decay
process,
which
has
become
a
crucial
problem
in
the
actual
application
of
nc-SiC
films.
In
this
paper,
the
nc-SiC
thin
film
is
deposited
by
helicon
wave
plasma
enhanced
chemical
vapor
deposition
(HW-PECVD)
tech-
nique.
High
resolution
transmission
electron
microscopy
(HRTEM)
and
X-ray
diffraction
(XRD)
analyses
show
that
the
3C–SiC
particles
∗
Corresponding
author.
Tel.:
+86
0312
5079560;
fax:
+86
0312
5079560.
E-mail
address:
yuwei
hbu@126.com
(W.
Yu).
are
embed
in
amorphous
SiC
matrix.
The
results
of
optical
absorp-
tion
and
steady
PL
spectra
indicate
that
blue-white
optical
emission
of
the
film
is
mainly
caused
by
the
QCE
of
nc-SiC.
Three
PL
decay
processes
are
obtained
from
time-resolved
PL
spectra
by
deconvo-
lution
treatment,
they
are
related
to
QCE,
surface
states
of
nc-SiC
particles,
and
band
tail
of
amorphous
SiC,
respectively.
2.
Experiment
The
nc-SiC
film
was
deposited
by
a
HW-PECVD
system
on
7059
corning
glass
and
(1
0
0)
oriented
single
crystal
silicon
substrates
[12,13].
In
order
to
avoid
the
influence
of
oxygen,
the
film
gen-
eration
house
was
pumped
to
2
×
10
−4
Pa
before
film
deposition.
The
flow
rates
of
H
2
,
SiH
4
and
CH
4
were
kept
at
60,
0.6
and
1.2
standard-state
cubic
centimeter
per
minute
(sccm),
respectively.
The
pressure
in
the
deposition
chamber
was
0.7
Pa
during
film
deposition.
The
substrate
temperature
and
RF
power
were
kept
at
400
◦
C
and
400
W,
respectively.
HRTEM
image
was
obtained
from
a
JEM
2010
electron
micro-
scope.
A
D/max-2400
X-ray
diffractometer
was
used
to
check
the
crystal
structure
of
the
film.
The
infrared
absorption
was
deduced
from
the
transmittance
measurement
in
a
Fourier
trans-
form
infrared
spectrophotometer
(FTIR,
PerkinElmer
2000).
The
optical
absorption
spectrum
of
the
film
was
obtained
by
employing
a
Zolix
300
ultraviolet–visible
transmittance-reflectance
spectrom-
eter.
The
steady
and
time-resolved
PL
spectra
were
measured
with
a
FLS920
fluorescence
spectrometer,
and
the
excitation
light
sources
were
450
W
Xenon
lamp,
325
nm
He–Cd
laser,
and
375
nm
picosecond
pulsed
diode
laser,
respectively.
0169-4332/$
–
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front
matter ©
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.10.025