Electroluminescence from Si nanocrystals by annealing amorphous silicon carbide films

In this work, a-SiC:H films have been fabricated in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system by controlling the gas flux ratio R of methane to silane and subsequently annealed in N2 atmosphere for 1 h at the temperature of 1000°C. Raman spectra showed the formation of Si nanocrystals embedded in amorphous SiC matrix after annealing. Room temperature visible electroluminescence was achieved due to the recombination of electron-hole pairs in Si nanocrystals for the annealed samples. The current-voltage relationships were also investigated and the tunneling mechanism was discussed based on the carrier transport properties.