ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTRONIC AND LOCAL-STRUCTURE OF AMORPHOUS SINXH ALLOY-FILMS IN TERMS OF SIK, SIL, AND NK X-RAY-EMISSION BANDS

We have studied silicon-nitrogen bonding states in amorphous SiN(x):H alloy films and in crystalline alpha-Si3N4 and beta-Si3N4 by applying x-ray-emission spectroscopy (XES). We present x-ray Si K, Si L, and N K emission bands of alloy films covering the concentration range 0 les s-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 2.03 and identify spectral features on the base of ab initio calculations of all emission bands o f beta-Si3N4. The calculations delineate the role of Si 3s, 3p, and N 2s, 2p electrons in the bond and confirm the presence of silicon d-lik e electrons in the top region of the valence band. A comparison with a vailable ultraviolet and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results is g iven. The position of the N 2s line observed in Si K and Si L emission bands of the alloys is analyzed in terms of the random-bond and rando m-mixture (RMM) models of nearest-neighbor structure of silicon atoms. The results unambiguously support the RMM structure of our samples an d demonstrate that a detailed analysis of x-ray transitions observable in XES can yield unique and unconventional information about the loca l structure and the degree of phase separation in a-SiN(x):H alloy fil ms.