Nucleation and growth of Si nanocrystals in an amorphous SiO2 matrix

Daria Riabinina, Christophe Durand, Joëlle Margot, Mohamed Chaker, Gianluigi A. Botton, and Federico Rosei
Phys. Rev. B 74, 075334 – Published 30 August 2006

Abstract

This paper discusses the physical mechanisms governing the nucleation and growth of Si nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous SiO2 matrix. Reactive pulsed laser deposition combined with a postannealing treatment is shown to be a flexible approach to synthesize Si nanocrystals. This technique ensures an excellent control of Si nanocrystal size by varying the oxygen pressure. By correlating nanocrystal size (measured by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy) with the nonoxidized Si volume fraction (determined by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy), it is found that the formation of nanocrystals follows classical nucleation theory, whereby the average distance between nuclei centers remains constant.

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  • Received 7 April 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.74.075334

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Daria Riabinina1,*, Christophe Durand1, Joëlle Margot2, Mohamed Chaker1,†, Gianluigi A. Botton3, and Federico Rosei1

  • 1INRS-EMT, Université du Québec, 1650 Lionel-Boulet, C. P. 1020, Varennes Quebec, Canada J3X 1S2
  • 2Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, C. P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville Montréal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
  • 3Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M1

  • *Corresponding author. Email address: riabinina@emt.inrs.ca
  • Corresponding author. Email address: chaker@emt.inrs.ca

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Issue

Vol. 74, Iss. 7 — 15 August 2006

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