Investigation on preparation and physical properties of LPCVD Si_xO_yN_z thin films and nanocrystalline Si/Si_xO_yN_z superlattices for Si-based light emitting devices

In this paper, the deposition process and optical properties of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) and Si_xO_yN_z LPCVD thin films and nc-Si/Si_xO_yN_z superlattices are studied. The possibility of a well-controlled LPCVD deposition process of nanocrystalline silicon films is analysed. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) were employed for the structural and optical characterization of these films. In order to obtain a superlattice for emitting devices, the nc-Si thin film preparation was optimised to provide a good reproducibility and average grain size around 10 nm.