Group-IV-semiconductor quantum-dots in thermal SiO₂ layer fabricated by hot-ion implantation technique. Different wavelength photon emissions

We experimentally studied three types of group-IV-semiconductor quantum-dots (IV-QDs) of Si-, SiC-, and C-QDs in a thermal SiO₂ layer that were fabricated using a very simple hot-ion implantation technique for Si⁺, double Si⁺/C⁺, and C⁺ into the SiO₂ layer, respectively, to realize a different wavelength photoluminescence (PL) emission from near-IR to near-UV ranges. TEM analyses newly confirmed both Si- and C-QDs with a diameter of approximately 2-4 nm in addition to SiC-QDs in SiO₂. We successfully demonstrated very strong PL emission from three IV-QDs, and the peak photon energies (E_PH) (peak PL-wavelength) of Si-, and SiC-, and C-QDs were approximately 1.56 eV (800 nm), 2.5 eV (500 nm), and 3.3 eV (380 nm), respectively. IV-QDs showed that the PL properties strongly depend on the hot-ion doses of Si and C atoms and the post N₂ annealing processes. Consequently, it is easy to design peak PL wavelengths by controlling the ion doses of Si⁺ and C⁺ implanted into the SiO₂ layer. (author)