Modeling of silicon nanocrystal formation in amorphous silicon/silicon dioxide m

The formation process of silicon-nanocrystals (Si-NCs) in the amorphous silicon/silicon dioxide (a-Si/SiO2) multilayer structure during thermal annealing is theoretically studied with a modified model based on the Gibbs free energy variation. In this model, the concept of average effective interfacial free energy variation is introduced and the whole formation process consisting of nucleation and subsequent growth is considered. The calculating results indicate that there is a lower limit of the