Formation of nanocrystalline silicon in SiOx by soft X-ray irradiation at low temperature. (1st February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Heya, Akira; Kusakabe, Fumito; Matsuo, Naoto; Kanda, Kazuhiro; Kohama, Kazuyuki; Ito, Kazuhiro
• Is Part Of: Japanese journal of applied physics. Volume 56:Number 3(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-02-01
• Subjects: Physics -- Periodicals; 621.05
• DOI: 10.7567/JJAP.56.035501
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-4922

Abstract

Abstract: The low-temperature formation of nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si) in SiO x film is one of the key technologies in the realization of Si-based photonics and memories. We proposed a low-temperature nc-Si formation method with soft X-ray irradiation. The nc-Si formation depended on the Si/O atomic ratio in the pristine SiO x film. The Si-rich regions in SiO x films with Si/O ratios higher than 0.67 were crystallized by atomic migration via electron excitation with soft X-ray irradiation at a photon energy near the core level of Si 2p. nc-Si with a mean size of 20 nm was formed by soft X-ray irradiation at a low temperature of 660 °C.