Evolution with annealing treatments of the size of silicon nanocrystallites embedded in a SiNx matrix and correlation with optical properties

Amorphous silicon nitride alloys have been prepared by reactive evaporation of silicon under a flow of nitrogen ions. Photoluminescence in the visible domain can be observed in these alloys after annealing treatments. We have particularly studied the influence of the annealing time at 950 degreesC on the evolution of the photoluminescence, in correlation with the structural characterization performed by X-ray photoemission spectrometry, grazing-angle X-ray diffraction, infrared absorption spectrometry and Raman spectrometry. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.