Light emitting nanocrystalline silicon prepared by dry processing: The effect of crystallite size

A new technique for the preparation of light emitting nanocrystalline (nc) silicon by a combination of plasma chemical vapor deposition and post‐treatment consisting of oxidation and annealing in forming gas is reported. The advantage of this processing consists in the possibility of a control of the crystallite size and the fraction of nc‐Si in the film. A strong increase of the photoluminescence below 35 A, as predicted by theory, is documented experimentally.