Papers by Author: Marco Balucani

Abstract: In present work the investigation of the electrochemical and chemical hydrothermal deposition processes of ZnO on silicon is presented. The influence of the electrochemical process parameters on the characteristics and morphology of the ZnO deposits is analyzed. Electrochemical deposition from non aqueous DMSO solutions on porous silicon buffer layer is also discussed. The details of the chemical hydrothermal deposition from the nitrate bath of high-quality ZnO crystals on silicon substrate are presented. It was shown that morphology and size of synthesized ZnO crystals depends on the temperature of the deposition bath. Differences between photoluminescence of electrochemically deposited ZnO thin films and hydrothermally synthesized crystals are shown. Electrochemically deposited ZnO films demonstrate defect-caused luminescence and hydrothermally grown ZnO crystals shows intensive exciton luminescence band in UV region. Hydrothermal deposition of high-quality ZnO crystals on the surface of electrochemically deposited ZnO seed layer with porous silicon buffer improves photoluminescence properties of the structure which is useful for optoelectronics applications. Possible applications of ZnO as gas sensors and photovoltaic devices are considered. Aspects of ZnO electrochemical deposition on bulk silicon and silicon-on-isolator wafers for integration purposes are discussed.

Abstract: Cu-Si nanocomposites formed by an immersion displacement deposition of Cu into porous silicon (PS) matrix have been experimentally studied. SEM and AES were used to investigate the structure and elemental composition of Cu-Si samples. The top part of the Cu-PS samples is shown to demonstrate the following structure: large faceted Cu grains at the top, a porous fine-grained copper film underneath the large grains, and the copper pointed rods extended from the surface into the PS layer. The top part of the silicon skeleton of the PS layer is converted into the copper by the etching followed by Cu displacement deposition. The porosity of the porous layer and displacement deposition times are found to form Cu-Si nanocomposites of various structures and various Cu-Si contents because of various extent of the silicon skeleton transformation into copper.