Investigation of defect levels in BaSi2 epitaxial films by photoluminescence and the effect of atomic hydrogen passivation

Abstract

Abstract Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were carried out on 0.5-μm thick BaSi2 epitaxial films grown on Si(111) substrates with various Ba-to-Si deposition rate ratios (R Ba/R Si) in the range of 1.7–5.1. The samples were excited from both the frontside (BaSi2) and the backside (Si substrate), at temperatures in the range of 8–50 K. These measurements have highlighted the existence of localized states within the bandgap that result from defects in the BaSi2 films. The PL intensity is highly dependent on the excitation power, temperature, and R Ba/R Si. Of those studied, the BaSi2 film at R Ba/R Si = 4.0 showed the most intense PL and weak photoresponsivity, whereas the PL intensity was weaker for the other samples. Therefore, we chose this sample for a detailed PL investigation. Based on the results we determined the energy separation between localized states, corresponding to PL peak energies. The difference in PL spectra excited from the BaSi2-side and Si-side is attributed to the difference in kinds of defects emitting PL. The photoresponsivity of the BaSi2 was drastically enhanced by atomic hydrogen passivation, and the PL intensity of the sample decreased accordingly.