In-situ high resolution transmission electron microscopy observation of silicon nanocrystal nucleation in a SiO{sub 2} bilayered matrix

Journal Article · Mon Aug 04 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892658· OSTI ID:22314512

Wu, L.; Lin, Z.; Jia, X.; Puthen-Veettil, B.; Zhang, T.; Conibeer, G.; Perez-Wurfl, I. ^[1]; Kauffmann, Y.; Rothschild, A. ^[2]

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1. School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052 (Australia)
2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000 (Israel)

Solid-state nucleation of Si nanocrystals in a SiO{sub 2} bilayered matrix was observed at temperatures as low as 450 °C. This was achieved by aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with real-time in-situ heating up to 600 °C. This technique is a valuable characterization tool especially with the recent interest in Si nanostructures for light emitting devices, non-volatile memories, and third-generation photovoltaics which all typically require a heating step in their fabrication. The control of size, shape, and distribution of the Si nanocrystals are critical for these applications. This experimental study involves in-situ observation of the nucleation of Si nanocrystals in a SiO{sub 2} bilayered matrix fabricated through radio frequency co-sputtering. The results show that the shapes of Si nanocrystals in amorphous SiO{sub 2} bilayered matrices are irregular and not spherical, in contrast to many claims in the literature. Furthermore, the Si nanocrystals are well confined within their layers by the amorphous SiO{sub 2}. This study demonstrates the potential of in-situ HRTEM as a tool to observe the real time nucleation of Si nanocrystals in a SiO{sub 2} bilayered matrix. Furthermore, ideas for improvements on this in-situ heating HRTEM technique are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 22314512
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
LAYERS
NANOSTRUCTURES
NUCLEATION
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SILICON OXIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY