CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ESR AND PHOTOLUMINESCENCE IN SLIGHTLY HYDROGENATED SILICON-NITRIDE

The electronic properties of slightly hydrogenated silicon nitride pre pared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition are studied by ele ctron spin resonance and photoluminescence. We show that the detection of the nitrogen dangling bond, after thermal annealing followed by an ultraviolet irradiation, critically depends on the composition, as ha s already been observed in strongly hydrogenated materials. Moreover, correlations are established between the appearance of the dangling bo nd and the photoluminescence efficiency, suggesting that an electronic state associated with a nitrogen dangling bond could be a radiative c entre.