Plasma power controlled deposition of SiOx with manipulated Si Quantum Dot size for photoluminescent wavelength tailoring

Plasma power controlled PECVD of SiOx under SiH4/N2O gas mixture with manipulated Si quantum dot (Si-QD) size for tailoring photoluminescent (PL) wavelength is demonstrated. The incomplete decomposition of N2O at high plasma power facilitates Si-rich SiOx deposition to enlarge O/Si composition ratio and to shrink Si-QD size. As RF plasma power increases from 20 to 70 W, the O/Si ratio is increased from 1 to 1.6 and the average Si-QD size is reduced from 4.5 to 1.7, which increases Si-QD density from 3.2 x 10(17) to 3.02 x 10(18) cm(-3) and blue-shifts PL wavelength from 780 to 380 nm. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America