Synthesis and characterization of silicon nanocrystals in SiC matrix using sputtering and PECVD techniques

Synthesis of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a dielectric matrix has attracted considerable interest in third-generation photovoltaics. Till date, significant work has been done on synthesizing and characterization of Si nanocrystals embedded in oxide and nitride dielectric matrices. Recently, silicon carbide based matrices have gathered much attention because of its comparatively lower band gap (2.5 eV) as compared to Si3N4 (5.3 eV) and SiO2 (9 eV) thereby promising a better electrical conductivity. In this work, Si-rich SiC films are synthesized and investigated for possible formation of Si Quantum Dots (QD) within the matrix. A comparative analysis of film growth using variant approaches in sputtering techniques, and PECVD technique are carried out. The effect of annealing at different temperatures and ambience in favouring the Si QD formation, structural and optical properties of the film are studied. This work paves way to analyse the possibility of these nanometric films for future photovoltaic applications. (C)2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.