Preparation of nanocrystalline silicon in amorphous silicon carbide matrix

We have successfully prepared silicon quantum dots/amorphous silicon carbide multilayers by the thermal annealing of stoichiometric hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H)/silicon-rich hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si1-xCx) multilayers. Raman scattering spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that silicon quantum dots were formed in only a-Si1-xCx layers. We also found that the size of silicon quantum dots can be controlled by the thickness of a-Si1-xCx layers.