The Effect of Nitrogen Incorporation on the Optical Properties of Si-Rich a-SiCx Films Deposited by VHF PECVD

oleh: Hongliang Li, Zewen Lin, Yanqing Guo, Jie Song, Rui Huang, Zhenxu Lin

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-05-01

Deskripsi

The influence of N incorporation on the optical properties of Si-rich a-SiC<sub>x</sub> films deposited by very high-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF PECVD) was investigated. The increase in N content in the films was found to cause a remarkable enhancement in photoluminescence (PL). Relative to the sample without N incorporation, the sample incorporated with 33% N showed a 22-fold improvement in PL. As the N content increased, the PL band gradually blueshifted from the near-infrared to the blue region, and the optical bandgap increased from 2.3 eV to 5.0 eV. The enhancement of PL was suggested mainly from the effective passivation of N to the nonradiative recombination centers in the samples. Given the strong PL and wide bandgap of the N incorporated samples, they were used to further design an anti-counterfeiting label.