Silicon Nitride Nanostructures Prepared from n-type and p-type Silicon Targets

Abstract

Silicon nitride nanostructures were prepared by reactive sputtering technique using silicon targets with different types of electrical conductivity (n-type and p-type) and Ar:N₂ gas mixing ratio of 70:30. The optical microscopy and spectroscopic characteristics of these films were determined in order to introduce the effect of target conductivity type on these characteristics. The results showed that using p-type silicon target would produce Si₃N₄ films with lower tendency to adsorb water vapor and other constituents of the atmospheric air, higher absorbance in the visible range 400-700nm, and lower variation in the energy band gap with film thickness than the Si₃N₄ films prepared from n-type silicon target.