Si-rich- layers with high excess silicon content: Light emission and structural properties

Si-rich- SiO2 layers with high excess Si content grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering were studied by Raman scattering, X-Ray diffraction, electron paramagnetic resonance, and photoluminescence methods. It was found that high temperature annealing stimulates the formation of Si crystallites with preferred orientation in 〈111〉 direction. It was shown that the effect of crystallites orientation depends on excess Si content. Besides, comparable contribution of amorphous and crystalline silicon phases in the structure was observed for the annealed layers with Si excess more than 55%. It was observed that both crystalline and amorphous Si inclusions give the essential contribution to the photoluminescence spectra.