A HIGH-RESOLUTION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY STUDY OF BLUE-LIGHT-EMITTING BETA-SIC NANOPARTICLES IN C-IMPLANTED SILICON()

A high-resolution electron microscopy study of beta-SiC nanoparticles formed by C+-implantation of single crystal silicon with subsequent an nealing has been carried out. The as-implanted sample had a trilayered structure, in which the surface layer, A, and the bottom layer, C, we re crystalline but damaged, and the middle layer, B, was amorphous. Af ter annealing this structure, beta-SiC particles were formed throughou t the trilayered structure but with different forms: a few epitaxial b eta-SiC nanoparticles in layers A and C, and more random nanoparticles in layer B. The beta-SiC nanoparticles, in the size range 2-8 nm, sho uld be responsible for the blue-emitting effect of the silicon-based p orous beta-SiC.