Si nanocrystals in silicon nitride: An ellipsometric study using parametric semiconductor models

Low-pressure chemical vapour deposited Si 3 N 4 /nc-Si/Si 3 N 4 layers prepared on Si substrates were characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Model Dielectric Function (MDF) was applied to obtain the thickness and the dielectric spectra of the middle nc-Si layer. Sensitive effect of the deposition time was obtained on the MDF parameters. A comparison is presented between the studied samples and reference materials.