A strong photoluminescence of H-doped material, which had been prepared via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, was studied; together with infra-red and micro-Raman spectra. It was found that each photoluminescence spectrum comprised 2 Gaussian components: a main band, and a shoulder. The former was suggested to arise from amorphous Si clusters which were embedded in the SiOx network, and its red-shift as a function of annealing temperature was attributed to expansion of the Si clusters. The shoulder remained at about 835nm, regardless of the annealing temperature, and was tentatively attributed to luminescent defect centers. An enhanced photoluminescence spectrum, after annealing at 1170C, was attributed to the quantum confinement effects of nanocrystalline Si; embedded in the oxide matrix.

Z.X.Ma, X.B.Liao, J.He, W.C.Cheng, G.Z.Yue, Y.Q.Wang, G.L.Kong: Journal of Applied Physics, 1998, 83[12], 7934-9