Structural properties of silicon nanostructures determined by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy

Si nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 have been produced by thermal annealing of SiOx films prepared by PECVD. The structural properties of the system have been investigated by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy. The technique has shown the presence of a significant amount of amorphous nanostructures, not detectable by using the conventional dark field TEM technique. The nanostructure mean size, including both the amorphous and the crystalline ones, and the crystalline fraction have been evaluated as a function of the annealing temperature.