Annealing effect on structures and luminescence of amorphous SiN films

The microstructures and chemical bonding configurations of amorphous silicon nitride films with various compositions are investigated. Room temperature photoluminescence is observed which depended on the film concentrations. The post-annealing treatment at moderate temperature region of 700–900 °C is performed and the annealing effect on the structures and luminescence is studied. It is found that the structural rearrangements occurred after thermal annealing due to the effusion of hydrogen from the films. The luminescence is also changed after annealing and the possible originations are briefly discussed.