Growth and characterization of Si nanodot multilayers in SiC matrix

Preliminary experimental results on the fabrication and characterization of Si nanodot multilayers embedded in SiC matrix are presented. Nanometric Si crystals are obtained by thermal annealing of hydrogenated SiCx/SiC multilayers deposited by PECVD onto (001) Si and fused quartz substrates. The samples have been investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray diffraction, IR optical absorption and UV-VIS-near IR transmittance. Although Si nano-dots formation requires high temperature thermal annealing, we show as the initial low temperature thermal annealing for H out-diffusion is a critical step of the fabrication process.