Correlation between stress and carrier nonradiative recombination for silicon nanocrystals in an oxide matrix

Silicon nanocrystals embedded in an oxide matrix formed in a multilayer architecture were deposited by the magnetron sputtering method. By means of Raman spectroscopy we have found that compressive stress is exerted on the silicon nanocrystal core. The stress varies as a function of silicon concentration (O/Si ratio) in the silicon-rich oxide (SRO) layers, which can be attributed to the changing nanocrystal environment. By conducting the time-resolved spectroscopy experiment, we demonstrate that, depending on the nanocrystal surroundings, a different amount of nonradiative recombination sites participates in the excited carrier relaxation process, leading to changes of the relative quantum yield of photoluminescence.