Infrared and photoluminescence study of rapidly thermally annealed SiOx thin films

Silicon suboxide, SiOx thin films with different oxygen contents (1.15 <= x <= 1.70) were prepared by thermal evaporation of silicon monoxide at a residual oxygen pressure of 1 center dot 10(-3) Pa and deposition rates of 0.2, 1.0, 3.0 and 6.0 nm/s. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of films was carried out at 1100 degrees C in vacuum for 15 and 30 s and the films were analyzed by infrared (FTIR) and photo luminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In the FTIR spectra of SiOx annealed samples, a blue-shift of the stretching band with initial oxygen content, x, is observed. This band is shifted to a much lower frequency with prolonged RTA time. This behavior can be interpreted in terms of the partial decrease of oxygen content and film density upon annealing in vacuum. With annealing time increase a new band at 1106 cm(-1) appears. Therefore, infrared spectra of SiOx films are significantly affected by the oxygen content. PL spectra of these films also change drastically with increasing annealing time. In the PL spectra of films annealed for 15 s two bands are easily visible: broad red-orange band at 2.2 eV and a green band at 2.4 eV, while for 30 s annealing only low-energy band exists. Green band is connected with the defects in the SiOx matrix while red-orange band can be deconvoluted into several bands at 2.0, 2.3 and 2.5 eV. Two types of defects can be responsible for the PL band at about 2 eV: defects in a-Si (amorphous silicon) nanoparticles separated during RTA, and nonbridging oxygen hole recombination centers (NBOHC) formed by loosing of oxygen during RTA. The PL band at 2.3 eV is associated with the defects formed at a-Si/SiOx interfaces while a hardly visible band at 2.5 eV is related to the defects connected with the oxygen deficiency formed in the SiOx matrix during RTA.