Silicon nitride nanostructures prepared by reactive sputtering using closed-field unbalanced dual magnetrons

Abstract

In this work, silicon nitride nanostructures were prepared by a reactive sputtering technique employing, a novel design of closed-field unbalanced dual magnetron system. The optical properties of the prepared nanostructures were studied by their absorption and transmission spectra in the range of 200–800 nm. As well, the structural properties of these structures were studied to determine the optimum geometry of the employed closed-field unbalanced dual magnetron configuration. The produced Si3N4 nanostructures showed high absorption in the ultraviolet wavelength region (<200 nm) in addition to an absorption band centered at 389 nm. The energy gap of the prepared samples was found to be 5.2 eV of allowed and direct type. Structural results showed that the prepared samples were amorphous with average particle size of 20–30 nm, average particle diameter of 99.22 nm and average roughness of 0.777 nm. In this technique, low cost, high purity and homogeneous surfaces can be prepared by the effective control of the operation parameters, especially the geometry of closed-field unbalanced dual magnetron configuration.