Material structure of two-/three-dimensional Si-C layers fabricated by hot-C+-ion implantation into Si-on-insulator substrate

We experimentally studied the material structures of two-/three-dimensional (2D/3D) silicon carbon layers Si1-YCY with Y <= 0.25 and 5 <= N-L <= 162 [N-L is the atomic layer number of Si1-YCY)] on buried oxide (BOX), which were fabricated by hot-C+-ion implantation into a (100) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate before an oxidation process. A 2D Si layer was also fabricated as a reference. The C 1s spectrum obtained by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy shows that the implanted C atoms segregate at the oxide interface. Using a scanning transmission electron microscope and a high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscope to observe cross sections of Si0.75C0.25 layers, 2-nm-thick 3C-SiC layers were found be partially formed in the C segregation layer near the BOX interface. At Y > 0.1 and 5 <= N-L <= 162, we observed very strong photoluminescence (PL) emission in the UV/visible regions from a 3C-SiC area and a Si1-YCY area in the C segregation layer, whereas a 2D Si emitted weak PL photons only at N-L < 10. Thus, the silicon carbon technique is very promising for Si photonics and bandgap engineering in CMOS. (c) 2017 The Japan Society of Applied Physics