To study the effect of implantation with 1013 to 1016/cm2 of B ions and subsequent steady-state thermal or pulsed (20ns) laser anneals on the properties of Si nanocrystals in SiO2, methods of photoluminescence and Raman scattering were used. Implantation of B ions quenched the photoluminescence caused by dimensional quantization. A comparison with the effect of other ions showed that an increase in the mass of incident particles leads to an increase in the contribution of elastic losses to the photoluminescence quenching. This circumstance was accounted for by the binding of the generated defects into complexes that were not the center of non-radiative recombination. These studies confirmed the promotion of crystallization of nanoprecipitates as a result of the introduction of an impurity and also revealed special features related to the small size of B atoms. It was shown that the post-implantation laser-induced anneals were efficient methods for recovering photoluminescence; this efficiency was caused by the possible short-term melting of nanocrystals. Notwithstanding the evidence indicating that B enters the nanocrystals, there was no indication that free holes appear. It was believed that this phenomenon was caused by the fact that the depth of impurity levels was larger in nanocrystals.

Effect of Boron Ion Implantation and Subsequent Anneals on the Properties of Si Nanocrystals. G.A.Kachurin, S.G.Cherkova, V.A.Volodin, D.M.Marin, D.I.Tetelbaum, H.Becker: Semiconductors, 2006, 40[1], 72-8