Investigation of the Si-rich silicon oxide by 3D atom probe tomography
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1111-D06-08-MM09-08
Investigation of the Si-rich silicon oxide by 3D atom probe tomography Etienne Talbot1, Rodrigue Lardé1, Fabrice Gourbilleau2, C. Dufour2 and Philippe Pareige1 1
Groupe de Physique des Matériaux, Université et INSA de Rouen, UMR CNRS 6634, avenue de l’université, BP 12, 76801 Saint Etienne du Rouvray, France 2 Centre de Recherche sur les Ions, les Matériaux et la Photonique, équipe NIMPH, UMR CNRS 6252, ENSICAEN, 6 boulevard Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen, France
ABSTRACT Silicon rich silicon oxide multilayers for optical devices have been investigated by laser assisted wide angle atom probe tomography. Three dimensional mapping of silicon nanoclusters multilayers was obtained. The composition of the different phases were deduced and compared to theoretical concentration. These results evidenced a size distribution of the Si clusters diameter and an incomplete phase separation between silica and silicon particles.
INTRODUCTION The miniaturization and the integration of photonic components, notably for the telecommunications, are one of the main stakes of this last decade. In particular, Si based systems presenting promising potential for realization of light sources [1, 2], waveguide amplifiers [1, 3] and electroluminescence diodes compatible with the Si technology. One of the major lines deal with Silicon nanoclusters (Si-nc) embedded in silica which are promising for the realization of Si-based photonic devices. For example, Er doped silicon rich silica (SRSO) are promising candidate for planar optical amplifier at the wavelength of 1,54µm, which correspond to the minimum attenuation of silica optical fiber. In these systems, Si nanoclusters (Si-nc) have a sensitizer effect on Er3+ ions, and enhanced the effective cross section of rare earth dopants by means of an efficient energy transfer between Si-nc and Er ions. To improve the properties of these devices, it will be essential to characterize more precisely Si nanoparticles and especially size distribution and interface nature between Si-nc and matrix in samples annealed in the optimized conditions of the Er emission [4,5,6]. In this paper, we report for the first time 3D mapping of Si-nc embedded in SiO2 at the atomic level. We focused our study on the local chemistry, size distribution, and Si-nc density in SRSO/SiO2 multilayered structures annealed at 900°C during one hour. The results are compared to the “theoretical” case of complete phase separation between Si and SiO2.
EXPERIMENT SRSO/SiO2 multilayers (MLs) were prepared on Si substrates ([110] oriented) by an alternative reactive magnetron sputtering of the silica target under a plasma of 50% H2 + 50% Ar
to obtain SRSO sublayers, owing to the ability of hydrogen to reduce oxygen [7] and under a plasma of pure Ar to deposit the SiO2 sublayers. The MLs were grown at 650°C with a power density of 1.3 W.cm-2 and were subsequently annealed at 900°C for 1h under a flux of N2 mixed with 5% of H2 in order to favor the phase separation between Si and SiO2. The thickness of the SiO2 and SRSO
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