Visible Photoluminescence of Non-Stoichiometric Silicon Nitride Films: The Effect of Annealing Temperature and Atmosphere

The radiative properties of non-stoichiometric silicon nitride SiNx fi lms produced by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition were studied. Intense room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) in the visible region was recorded after annealing for both Si-rich (x = 1.13) and N-rich (x = 1.5) silicon nitride fi lms. The position of the PL band maximum depended signifi cantly on the fi lm composition. The PL band maxima for Si-rich and N-rich SiNx fi lms were detected in the red (660 nm) and blue (450 nm) spectral regions, respectively. The effect of the annealing atmosphere on PL of the SiNx fi lms was studied. It was shown that the PL intensity depended not only on the annealing temperature but also on the annealing atmosphere. The observed features of the non-stoichiometric SiNx PL spectra were explained in terms of defect states in the SiNx band gap.