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Hiller D, López-Vidrier J, Nomoto K, Wahl M, Bock W, Chlouba T, Trojánek F, Gutsch S, Zacharias M, König D, Malý P, Kopnarski M. Absence of free carriers in silicon nanocrystals grown from phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon-rich oxide and oxynitride. Beilstein J Nanotechnol 2018; 9:1501-1511. [PMID: 29977683 PMCID: PMC6009393 DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.9.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) embedded in silicon oxide matrix can be fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). Conventionally, SiH4 and N2O are used as precursor gasses, which inevitably leads to the incorporation of ≈10 atom % nitrogen, rendering the matrix a silicon oxynitride. Alternatively, SiH4 and O2 can be used, which allows for completely N-free silicon oxide. In this work, we investigate the properties of B- and P-incorporating Si NCs embedded in pure silicon oxide compared to silicon oxynitride by atom probe tomography (APT), low-temperature photoluminescence (PL), transient transmission (TT), and current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The results clearly show that no free carriers, neither from P- nor from B-doping, exist in the Si NCs, although in some configurations charge carriers can be generated by electric field ionization. The absence of free carriers in Si NCs ≤5 nm in diameter despite the presence of P- or B-atoms has severe implications for future applications of conventional impurity doping of Si in sub-10 nm technology nodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Hiller
- Research School of Engineering, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia
- Laboratory for Nanotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Julian López-Vidrier
- Laboratory for Nanotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Keita Nomoto
- The University of Sydney, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Sydney, Australia
| | - Michael Wahl
- Institute for Surface and Thin Film Analysis GmbH (IFOS), Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Bock
- Institute for Surface and Thin Film Analysis GmbH (IFOS), Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Tomáš Chlouba
- Department of Chemical Physics and Optics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - František Trojánek
- Department of Chemical Physics and Optics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Sebastian Gutsch
- Laboratory for Nanotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Margit Zacharias
- Laboratory for Nanotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Dirk König
- Integrated Materials Design Centre (IMDC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia
| | - Petr Malý
- Department of Chemical Physics and Optics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Michael Kopnarski
- Institute for Surface and Thin Film Analysis GmbH (IFOS), Kaiserslautern, Germany
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