XANES, USXES and XPS investigations of electron energy and atomic structure peculiarities of the silicon suboxide thin film surface layers containing Si nanocrystals

Films obtained using molecular-beam deposition of SiO powder on c-Si (111) substrates for the purpose of SiO2 system formation with silicon nanocrystals were investigated before and after 900–1100 °C annealing by photoluminescence, ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The appearance of (111) oriented luminescent silicon nanoclusters in considerable amounts on annealing at 1000–1100 °C is established in the investigated films. An anomalous phenomenon of the X-ray absorption quantum yield intensity inversing for the L2, 3 elementary silicon edge is detected. Models for this phenomenon are suggested. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.