A comparative study of amorphous silicon carbide and silicon rich oxide for light emission applications

In this work we performed a comparative study of the structural, optical and photoluminescent properties of amorphous Silicon Carbide (a-Si1-xCx:H) and Silicon Rich Oxide (SRO). We have optimized the deposition conditions of a-Si1-xCx:H in order to improve the Photoluminescence (PL) intensity and we have been able to produce films with similar PL intensity than that of SRO, which has been extensively studied due to its high level of PL and its compatibility with the silicon technology. The a-Si1-xCx:H films have been deposited at low temperature (150 C-omicron), while thermal treatments at high temperatures were not necessary as is done for SRO in order to improve its PL intensity. The above makes a-Si1-xCx:H an alternative material for low temperature optoelectronic silicon based devices and also for flexible device applications.