Influence of RF-sputtering power on formation of vertically stacked Si1−xGex nanocrystals between ultra-thin amorphous Al2O3 layers: structural and photoluminescence properties.

In this work, we investigate the structural and photoluminescence (PL) properties of (SiGe+Al₂O₃)/Al₂O₃ multi-layer films with layer thicknesses in the range of a few nanometres. The films were prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition at room temperature followed by an annealing process to promote the formation of small SiGe nanocrystals (NCs) (∼3 to 5 nm) embedded between ultra-thin (∼6 nm thickness) Al₂O₃ layers. Our results show that the structural and compositional properties of the films can be tuned by changing the RF-power. It is found that nearly spherical and well confined isolated SiGe NCs (∼5 nm) are obtained for an RF-power value of 80 W. The PL properties of the films were studied and optical emission in the blue visible wavelength region was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]