Pulsed KrF excimer laser dopant activation in nanocrystal silicon in a silicon dioxide matrix

Published

February 22, 2016

Author(s)

Tian Zhang, Brian Simonds, Keita Nomoto, Binesh Puthen Veettil, Ziyun Lin, Ivan Perez Wurfl, Gavin Conibeer

Abstract

We demonstrate that a pulsed KrF excimer laser (λ=248 nm, τ=22 ns) can be used as a post-furnace annealing method to greatly increase the electrically active doping concentration in nanocrystal silicon (ncSi) embedded in SiO2. The application of a single laser pulse of 202 mJ/cm2 improves the electrically active doping concentration by more than one order of magnitude while also improving the conductivity. It is confirmed that there is no film ablation or significant change in ncSi structure by AFM and micro-Raman spectroscopy. We propose that the increase in free carrier concentration is the result of interstitial P/B dopant activation, which are initially inside the ncSi. Evidence of mobility limited carrier transport and degenerate doping within the ncSi are measured with temperature dependent conductivity. Finally, a red-shift of the main photoluminescence emission along with a concomitant decrease in the integrated intensity further confirms the enhancement of doping in ncSi .

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

108

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Silicon quantum dots, doping, pulsed laser annealing

Citation

Zhang, T. , Simonds, B. , Nomoto, K. , Puthen Veettil, B. , Lin, Z. , Perez Wurfl, I. and Conibeer, G. (2016), Pulsed KrF excimer laser dopant activation in nanocrystal silicon in a silicon dioxide matrix, Applied Physics Letters (Accessed April 16, 2024)