PHOTOLUMINESCENCE OF NANOCRYSTALLITES EMBEDDED IN HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-SILICON FILMS

We have fabricated light-emitting nanocrystallites embedded in an a-Si :H matrix using a conventional plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-depositi on system. It was found that the photoluminescence properties are dire ctly related to the deposition parameters. The quantum size effect mod el is proposed to explain the photoluminescence. Two structural prereq uisites are proposed for this kind of films to exhibit effective light emission: One is an upper limit for mean crystallite size of about 3. 4 nm, the other is an upper limit for crystallinity of about 30%. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.