Luminescence and EPR studies of defects in Si-SiO2 films

Co-sputtered Si-rich SiO2 films annealed at 1150degreesC are studied by photoluminescence and EPR methods. It is found that the emission spectrum of as-prepared samples contains one broad infrared band. It is shown that one-year aging in ambient air and low-temperature annealing in an oxygen atmosphere leads to an increase in the infrared band intensity and the appearance of additional bands with maxima at 1.7 eV, 2.06 eV and 2.3 eV while annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere results in the decrease of the 1.7 eV and 2.06 eV band intensities. A correlation between the 1.7-eV band intensity and the EPR signal from EX-centers is found to exist. The decrease of crystallite sizes results in a high-energy shift of the infrared band while the peak positions of the other ones (at 1.7 eV, 2.06 eV and 2.3 eV) do not change. The infrared band is ascribed to recombination in Si crystallites while the others are attributed to silicon oxide defects, the 1.7-eV and 2.06-eV bands being due to oxygen-excess defects such as EX-center and NBOHC.