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Thermally Induced Structural Transformations on Polymorphous Silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Chandana Rath ,
J. Farjas ,
P. Roura ,
F. Kail ,
P. Roca i Cabarrocas  and
E. Bertran
Chandana Rath
Affiliation:
GRMT, Departament de Física, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, Edif. PII, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain; and School of Materials Science and Technology, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
J. Farjas*
Affiliation:
GRMT, Departament de Física, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, Edif. PII, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain
P. Roura
Affiliation:
GRMT, Departament de Física, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, Edif. PII, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain
F. Kail
Affiliation:
LPICM (UMR 7647 CNRS), Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
P. Roca i Cabarrocas
Affiliation:
LPICM (UMR 7647 CNRS), Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
E. Bertran
Affiliation:
FEMAN, Departament de Física Aplicada i Optica, Universitat de Barcelona, E08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Polymorphous Si is a nanostructured form of hydrogenated amorphous Si that contains a small fraction of Si nanocrystals or clusters. Its thermally induced transformations such as relaxation, dehydrogenation, and crystallization have been studied by calorimetry and evolved gas analysis as a complementary technique. The observed behavior has been compared to that of conventional hydrogenated amorphous Si and amorphous Si nanoparticles. In the temperature range of our experiments (650–700 °C), crystallization takes place at almost the same temperature in polymorphous and in amorphous Si. In contrast, dehydrogenation processes reflect the presence of different hydrogen states. The calorimetry and evolved gas analysis thermograms clearly show that polymorphous Si shares hydrogen states of both amorphous Si and Si nanoparticles. Finally, the total energy of the main Si–H group present in polymorphous Si has been quantified.

Keywords

AmorphousDifferential thermal analysis (DTA)Plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD)
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 20 , Issue 9 , September 2005 , pp. 2562 - 2567
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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